Zhang Peng
Also known as 张鹏
Zhang Peng leads Z.AI, which grew from Tsinghua's Knowledge Engineering Group and develops the GLM model family. He studied computer science at Tsinghua from 1998 to 2005 and helped commercialize its research through Zhipu in 2019. Under his leadership, Zhipu released GLM-130B in 2022, and he described GLM-4 as approaching GPT-4 in 2024. He completed an electronics and information doctorate in June 2025; Z.AI released open-source GLM-4.5 for intelligent agent applications in July 2025, and TIME named him to its TIME100 AI list in 2026. As of October 2026, he is CEO of Z.AI.
- Now at
- Zhipu AI
Timeline
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1998–2005
Studying computer science
He enters Tsinghua's Computer Science and Technology Department in 1998, earns a bachelor's degree in 2002, and completes a master's degree in 2005.
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2019
Commercializing Tsinghua research
He helps turn Tsinghua's Knowledge Engineering Group research into Zhipu, which becomes a commercial company in 2019.
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2022
Releasing GLM-130B
Under his leadership, Zhipu releases the 130-billion-parameter GLM-130B model in 2022.
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2024
A GLM-4 comparison
Zhang Peng says GLM-4 shows an overall performance boost and approaches GPT-4 in 2024.
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June 2025
Completing an engineering doctorate
He completes a doctorate in electronics and information at Tsinghua in June 2025.
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July 2025
GLM-4.5 for AI agents
Z.AI releases open-source GLM-4.5, a language model designed for intelligent agent applications, in July 2025.
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2026
A TIME100 AI selection
TIME includes Zhang Peng on its 2026 TIME100 AI list.
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Since 2019
CEO of Z.AI
He is CEO of Z.AI, formerly known as Zhipu AI, a role he holds since 2019.
Sources and credits
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