China on Saturday launched the 2.0 version of "Tong Tong," the world's first artificial general intelligence (AGI) agent, featuring a young girl AI capable of autonomous learning, reflection, and growth, marking a significant milestone in AI technology development.
Developed by the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence (BIGAI), the new version of "Tong Tong" was revealed during the Artificial Intelligence Theme Day at the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum.
The upgraded AI can dynamically update its knowledge base, value functions, and skills through autonomous learning, with the ability to reflect and grow in a human-like manner.
At the launch event, Chen Hao, executive director of the Advanced Technology Center at BIGAI, highlighted Tong Tong 2.0's capabilities.
"Tong Tong 2.0 achieves consistency between language and embodied actions, or what we commonly refer to as 'walking the talk.' In terms of cognition, Tong Tong 2.0 is capable of parallel task planning. By the end of the year, we will open Tong Tong 2.0's interactive channel to the public. We also plan to integrate its brain with an embodied robot, enhancing its ability to interact with the physical world, thereby improving the robot's intelligence and giving it a 'heart,'"Chen said.
The unveiling of Tong Tong 2.0 was a highlight of the Artificial Intelligence Theme Day at the 2025 Zhongguancun Forum, underscoring AI's expanding role.
For instance, AI was used to produce promotional videos and warm-up content for the event. QR codes placed throughout the venue linked to the forum's AI assistant, "Xiao Guan," which helped attendees navigate schedules and locations.
The Theme Day was filled with sessions, including three simultaneous forums focused on embodied intelligence and general AI. Both the number and scale of these discussions have grown significantly compared to last year.
"Over 50 major innovative achievements were released on Theme Day. It provided an excellent platform for communication and collaboration among participants," said Tang Chao, deputy director of the Zhongguancun Science City Management Committee.
The 2025 Zhongguancun Forum, themed "New Quality Productive Forces and Global Technology Cooperation," commenced on Thursday in Beijing, drawing participants from more than 100 countries and regions.
Featuring 128 events across five major sections, the forum covers a broad range of topics -- from technology trading to frontier competitions -- and will run through Monday.
China unveils upgraded version of world's first AGI agent
China unveils upgraded version of world's first AGI agent
Voting for the election of the eighth-term Legislative Council (LegCo) of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) concluded on Sunday night.
Voting for the election began at 07:30 a.m. local time on Sunday. More than 600 polling stations were opened across Hong Kong, serving approximately 4.13 million registered voters.
Long queues had already formed outside multiple polling stations across Hong Kong before the polls opened. At polling station entrances, staff and volunteers attentively assisted voters with the procedures. Some voters posed for a photo holding a thank-you card given by staff after casting their ballot.
"As a Hong Kong citizen, I think it's my responsibility to vote, and I don't want to give up my rights. That's why I come here to support," a voter said.
"We actually flew in from Thailand. Learning today is a special day to vote, we actually canceled all our appointments and canceled everything, and we flew in with the whole family just to be part of Hong Kong and to vote, and to cast our vote and be part of the community," said another voter.
HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee cast his ballot at around 08:30 a.m. at Raimondi College on Robinson Road. He said that the LegCo election is of great importance to Hong Kong's overall development and future reforms, and it also represents the expectations of Hong Kong society.
A number of voters said they look forward to the new term of the Legislative Council taking greater responsibility in advancing Hong Kong's economy, society, and public welfare.
"I think an area of focus I'd like to see is, one is the economy, and secondly is youth mobility and youth policies. I think youth are the future, and it's very important to get unity within the youth and also give us hope, right? The youth in general -- what can we do to, for us as youth, to partake in civil society and to show our responsibility, but also from the government, like, what kind of policy that can help us do that as well," said a young voter.
"I hope that there will be more fair education in the sense that even people from the poor family, they can actually receive good education in good schools," another voter said.
The new term of LegCo will be composed of 90 members, including 40 elected by the Election Committee, 30 elected by functional constituencies, and 20 elected by geographical constituencies through direct elections. The name list of the 40 members returned by the Election Committee has been unveiled.
The eighth-term LegCo of the HKSAR will commence its four-year term on Jan 1, 2026.
Voting for 8th-term HKSAR LegCo election concludes
Voting for 8th-term HKSAR LegCo election concludes
