Viral Tsinghua University Photo Highlights Early Connection Between Moonshot AI and Zhipu AI Founders

A viral social media post recalled a 2014 Tsinghua University undergraduate scholarship defense featuring Yang Zhilin, the founder of Moonshot AI (Kimi), and his recommender Tang Jie, the co-founder of Zhipu AI (GLM). The post highlights Yang's exceptional academic achievements during his undergraduate years, including a perfect score in programming courses and multiple top-tier publications. This nostalgic lookback highlights the deep academic roots and early connections of the leaders driving China's generative AI boom. Both Moonshot AI and Zhipu AI have emerged as major players in the Chinese AI landscape, developing prominent LLMs like Kimi and the GLM series. During the 2014 defense, Yang presented algorithms for social network rumor blocking that improved performance by dozens of times, which were adopted by companies like Tencent and Huawei. Tang Jie praised Yang as one of the most talented students he had ever seen, noting his academic brilliance alongside his role as a drummer and songwriter in a campus band.