Chinese startup ShengShu raises $293 million to advance artificial general intelligence

Chinese artificial intelligence startup ShengShu Technology has raised 2 billion yuan ($292.59 million) in a funding round led by Alibaba Cloud, the company said on Friday, as competition intensifies in China’s AI sector.

ShengShu said the funding would support development of a “general world model” that processes sensory ‌information to ⁠simulate human ⁠perception and interaction, which the company describes as a step toward artificial general intelligence in physical environments.

The company did not provide a timeline for when such a system would be commercially available.