ModelBest's 4th-anniversary letter: on-device intelligence is the next battleground
智东西 · wechat · 2026-08-26
In a fourth-anniversary all-hands letter, ModelBest (面壁智能) co-founders Li Dahai and Liu Zhiyuan argue that on-device intelligence will become the main battlefield of the AGI era — just as compute split into supercomputing, cloud and edge, intelligence will split into super, cloud-side and on-device forms.
The letter lays out three priorities: advancing on-device tech around the "Densing Law" (streaming omni-modal perception, higher compute density, autonomous decision-making, building an on-device embodied brain); scaling proven vertical deployments via "on-device models + agents" across consumer electronics, manufacturing, education and legal; and using AI to overhaul internal collaboration and R&D. MiniCPM models have surpassed 50M global downloads and already run in car cockpits, flagship phones, satellites and more.
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