Tencent's Hy3 AI Model Goes Free Globally, Boosts AI Agents

Tencent is making its next-generation artificial intelligence model, Hy3, available globally for free. This move targets overseas developers and companies, aiming to boost competitiveness in the productivity AI market. Hy3 is being offered through platforms like WorkBuddy, Tencent Design Meora, and TokenHub. The free access for WorkBuddy users runs until August 31st. Tencent's goal is to secure early users and expand its influence in the global AI ecosystem. What's interesting is Hy3's focus on AI agent capabilities. Tencent Cloud's Poshu Yeung highlights that Hy3 supports practical, reliable, and scalable AI use for companies, moving beyond just experimental stages. Hy3 has about 295 billion parameters and is Tencent's best-performing AI model to date. This launch is also significant as it's the first major AI update since a former OpenAI researcher, Yao Shunyu, joined Tencent to oversee foundation model development. Usage indicators are already rising quickly, with Hy3's API calls increasing more than 68 times from the previous generation. It even ranked first in OpenRouter's global LLM usage ranking in its first week. The bottom line is Tencent is aggressively expanding its AI presence globally, offering powerful tools to a wider audience.