At Beijing AI-themed bar, DeepSeek tokens come with the pints
As AI enthusiasm sweeps across China, Song De opened AGI Bar, named after the concept of artificial general intelligence where AI systems surpass human intelligence, last year in Zhongguancun, the capital's high-tech neighbourhood in Haidian district. It is now a hub for Beijing's AI developers, investors and students.
Beijing bar owner Song De has named his establishment AGI Bar, after the concept of artificial general intelligence. The bar, located in Zhongguancun, a high-tech neighborhood in Beijing's Haidian district, aims to capitalize on the current AI craze in China. Song hopes the bar will attract AI developers, investors and students from universities like Tsinghua and Peking, as well as tech firms such as DeepSeek and Microsoft.
Inside, the walls are adorned with logos and merchandise from major Chinese AI companies, while an impressive brass gong from Z.ai's Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing hangs outside. The bar's signature drink, also called AGI, is a foam-based cocktail that customers can access for free using the bar's AI agent through WiFi. They can then use the tokens to code, powered by two Nvidia DGX Spark computers on display.
Song believes AI should be as accessible as essential utilities like water, electricity and the internet, and has automated much of the bar's operations using an AI agent. Despite the high demand, the bar is currently operating at a loss as it gives away more drinks than it sells. The bar's name is a play on words, combining the Chinese term for knowledge distillation with the concept of liquor distillation.
Song plans to expand the bar's Beijing location and add humanoid robots to serve customers, further emphasizing China's commitment to innovation.
Written by urgent.news from Economic Times Tech's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
