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At Beijing AI-themed bar, DeepSeek tokens come with the pints

The Times of India August 18, 2026

At Beijing AI-themed bar, DeepSeek tokens come with the pints - The Economic

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NewsTechAI At Beijing AI-themed bar, DeepSeek tokens come with the pintsAt Beijing AI-themed bar, DeepSeek tokens come

with the pintsReutersLast Updated: Aug 18, 2026, 12:11:28 PM ISTFollow usShareFont

SizeAbcSmallAbcMediumAbcLargeSavePrintCommentSynopsisAs AI enthusiasm sweeps across China, Song De opened AGI Bar, named

after the concept of artificial general intelligence where AI systems surpass human intelligence, last year in

Zhongguancun, the capital's high-tech neighbourhood in Haidian district. It is now a hub for Beijing's AI developers,

investors and students.Listen to this article in summarized format ListenReutersAI and alcohol have three main

similarities, according to Beijing bar owner Song De: hallucinations, bubbles and distillation. As AI enthusiasm sweeps

across China, Song hopes his bar can ride the wave. He opened AGI Bar, named after the concept of artificial general

intelligence where AI systems surpass human intelligence, last year in Zhongguancun, the capital's high-tech

neighbourhood in Haidian district. It is now a hub for Beijing's AI developers, investors and

students."You'll see ‌people sitting around ⁠a table ⁠coming from different labs, competing companies,

and different universities, all chatting about industry trends right here," said Song, an independent AI developer

in his thirties who runs the bar in his spare time. Located on Zhongguancun's Inno Way startup street, the bar is a

stone's throw from the elite Tsinghua and Peking universities that produce China's top AI talent, as well as

the offices of well-known Chinese and Western tech firms, including DeepSeek and Microsoft. It has hosted parties for

Chinese AI labs including Z.ai, and regularly holds developer seminars, open-source AI symposiums and university

research meetups."This is a very unique and advantageous location," Song said. "Haidian (district) has

always been the heart of scientific research in China. Internet companies are clustered here, and the ⁠tech

atmosphere, ‌industry investments, and VC incubators provide massive momentum for the sector." Inside, the walls

are plastered with logos, colourful figurines and merchandise from China's major AI firms, while the giant

brass gong struck by Z.ai when it listed on the Hong ⁠Kong Stock Exchange in January stands proudly outside the

entrance. The bar is a symbol of China's drive to use AI to turn its economy into a high-tech powerhouse, which

has even led retirees to adopt AI agents and made coding education for primary school children mainstream. The

initiative has already brought about some job disruption and prompted universities to add AI to their

curriculums.DeepSeek tokens for customersThe bar's signature drink, also called AGI, is a 9.9 yuan ($1.50) glass of

foam. Customers can connect to the bar's AI agent through WiFi to access free unlimited DeepSeek tokens for coding,

which run on two Nvidia DGX Spark computers on display."We say AI is a future public utility like water,

electricity, and the internet. AI should be like ‌WiFi," said Song, who believes the discovery of AI is more

important than the Industrial Revolution. The bar's registered Chinese name means "knowledge

distillation", a tongue-in-cheek pun on liquor distillation and AI model distillation."First off, it's an

AI technical term for transferring knowledge from large models to small ones, but between humans ⁠in a bar,

that's also a form of knowledge distillation," said Song.Bar to add humanoid robots soonAlthough the bar still

employs people, Song has automated much of the bar's inventory, reservation, utilities and membership systems using

an AI agent. Due to huge demand, Song hopes to expand the bar's Beijing floor space this year and use humanoid

robots, another symbol of China's innovation drive, to serve customers drinks. He opened a Shanghai branch in

June."We've hooked up all our lighting, software, and hardware in the store to APIs for AI processing.

We're trying not to waste human labour on tedious, unnecessary operational tasks," he said.However, like many

Chinese open-weight models that users can access for a much lower cost than U.S. proprietary AI models, Song is yet to

make money."The bar is completely losing money," he said. "The amount of drinks given away is definitely

10 times more than what's sold." Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now!Read more news onAGI

BarDeepSeekBeijing AIAI-themed barAI developersSong DeHaidian district(Catch all the Technology News News, and Latest

News Updates on The Economic Times.)...moreAdd CommentElevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper

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