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There are so many AI large models out there. I've grouped them into a few main categories based on their primary functions to help you pick the right one for your needs. Below are the categories and some models I find easy to use—simple to get started with and highly practical!

1. Text Generation: All-Rounders for Writing, Chatting, and Polishing

These models specialize in understanding and generating text. Whether you need to write articles, translate, polish copy, or just chat, they've got you covered.

  • Free and Easy-to-Use in China:

    • DeepSeek Chat (chat.deepseek.com): A versatile tool for text tasks, simple and user-friendly.
    • Tencent Yuanbao (yuanbao.tencent.com): Packed with features, handles daily text processing with ease.
    • Tongyi Qianwen (Qwen) (chat.qwen.ai): Reliable and stable, suitable for various text needs.
  • Worth Trying from Abroad:

    • Grok (grok.com): Great for tasks requiring real-time search, seamlessly pulls data from X platform with top-notch freshness.
    • Gemini (via Google AI Studio, aistudio.google.com): Almost free with no limits, excels at text generation, translation, and polishing, and even handles mixed text and images—just no video generation.

2. Text-to-Image: Turn Words into Art

These models generate images directly from your text descriptions, perfect for sparking creativity.

  • Recommended in China:

    • Jimeng (jimeng.jianying.com): Not only creates images but also videos, full of creative potential, though the free quota is a bit tight.
    • Tongyi Wanxiang (wan.video): Excels in both images and videos with good results, but free usage is limited.
  • Strong Contenders from Abroad:

    • Grok: Not just good with text, it also handles image generation well.
    • Gemini: More powerful, can generate images independently and insert them directly into text for a cool experience.

3. Text or Image to Video: From Idea to Short Clip

These models turn text or images into short videos of a few seconds, ideal for quick results.

4. Audio and Video Understanding: Listen, Watch, and Summarize

These models analyze audio or video content to produce text transcriptions or summaries, highly practical.

My Experience and Recommendations

These are the large models I use regularly, and they've all performed well. For text tasks in China, DeepSeek Chat, Tencent Yuanbao, and Tongyi Qianwen are solid, free, and easy to use.

From abroad, Grok stands out with real-time data from X platform, making searches super effective; Gemini is an all-rounder, nearly free and packed with features, especially impressive in mixed text and image tasks. For text-to-image or video, Jimeng and Tongyi Wanxiang are great choices in China, just watch the free quotas.

If you don't want to pick and choose and prefer one model for everything, I highly recommend Gemini. Aside from not generating video, it's nearly perfect, incredibly cost-effective, and a joy for developers to use!