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The best Black Friday outdoor deals 2025: Yeti, Jackery, and LifeStraw at record lows

The best Black Friday outdoor deals 2025: Yeti, Jackery, and LifeStraw at record lows

Table of Contents

Black Friday is finally here. You may not think of the Black Friday season as a time to grab outdoor gear, but you’d be surprised how many big price drops we’re seeing on everything from portable power stations and outdoor speakers to coolers and hydration essentials.

Whether you want to gear up for cold weather adventures, stock up for spring and summer camping, or grab some holiday gifts for great prices, ’tis the season to score outdoor deals. We’re tracking all of the best outdoor deals below as we move through Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so check back for the latest price drops.

Plus, we’re seeing some popular favorites get the real deal treatment — like LifeStraw personal water filters, Coleman tents and camping gear, and action cameras from DJI and GoPro. Be sure to check back as we get deeper into the holiday season and follow along with Mashable’s coverage of every category in our Black Friday hub.

Recommended deals for you

Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds


$219.99

(List Price $249.00)

Apple iPad 11″ 128GB Wi-Fi Retina Tablet (Blue, 2025 Release)


$274.00

(List Price $349.00)

Amazon Fire HD 10 32GB Tablet (2023 Release, Black)


$69.99

(List Price $139.99)

Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones


$248.00

(List Price $399.99)

Blink Outdoor 4 1080p Security Camera (5-Pack)


$159.99

(List Price $399.99)

Fire TV Stick 4K Streaming Device With Remote (2023 Model)


$24.99

(List Price $49.99)

Shark AV2511AE AI Robot Vacuum With XL Self-Empty Base


$249.99

(List Price $599.00)

Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band)


$339.00

(List Price $399.00)

WD 6TB My Passport USB 3.0 Portable External Hard Drive


$138.65

(List Price $179.99)

Dell 14 Premium Intel Ultra 7 512GB SSD 16GB RAM 2K Laptop


$999.99

(List Price $1549.99)

Mashable Trend Report

Best Black Friday outdoor deal

$699
at Amazon

$1,499
Save $800

 

Why we like it

A solid mid-range power station, the small and mighty Explorer 2000 v2 is lightweight enough (under 40 pounds) to carry with you on camping trips, boating, tailgating, and other outdoor adventures. It’s also equipped with 2,042Wh capacity, which makes it powerful enough to serve as a home battery backup in emergencies as well. That’s enough power to keep your fridge running for over a day, heat up a meal in the microwave, and brew plenty of cups of coffee. It packs three AC outlets, one USB-A port, and two USB-C ports, as well as a built-in light and super-charge emergency mode on board for a variety of needs. With $800 off, it’s down to its best price on record during Black Friday.

Best outdoor speaker deal

$129.95
at Amazon

$199.95
Save $70

 

Why we like it

A quality Bluetooth speaker makes a great companion in the great outdoors and the JBL Charge 6 is our favorite. It’s powerful enough to be used for an outdoor party, but still lightweight enough at just 2 pounds to tote around. It even comes with a handy removable strap for ultra portability. Plus, as its name suggests, it can charge other devices via USB-C. We don’t love that it’s $20 more than its predecessor at $199.95, but this Black Friday deal drops it to a more palatable $129.95 at both Amazon and Best Buy.

Best electric cooler deal

$598.49
at Amazon

$899.99
Save $301.50

 

Why we like it

Read Mashable’s full review of the Anker Solix EverFrost 2 electric cooler.

Instead of dealing with the hassle of melting ice, upgrading your outdoor adventures with an electric cooler is one of the most convenient luxuries. The powerful Anker Solix EverFrost 2 electric cooler is easy use and transport, and you can set the temperature as a freezer or refrigerator. Not only will the cooler keep your foods perfectly chilled for days, the battery that powers up the electric cooler can also recharge your phone at the campground.

Black Friday portable power station deals

  • Jackery Explorer 240D — $132 $209 (save $77)

  • EcoFlow Trail 300 DC — $139 $249 (save $110 + get a free ECOFLOW Camping Lamp)

  • Anker Solix C300 DC — $149.99 $249.99 (save $100)

  • Jackery Explorer 300 — $159 $259 (save $100)

  • EcoFlow River 2 — $179 $239 (save $60)

  • Anker Solix C300 — $199.99 $299 (save $99.01)

  • EcoFlow River 3 Plus — $259 $299 (save $40)

  • Anker Solix C1000 — $397 $799 (save $402)

  • DJI Power 1000 — $369 $799 (save $430)

  • Anker Solix C800 Plus — $349 $649 (save $300)

  • Bluetti Elite 200 v2 — $699 $1,699 (save $1,000)

  • DJI Power 2000 — $699 $1,299 (save $600)

  • Anker Solix F2000 — $847 $1,999 (save $1,152)

  • Anker Solix C1000 with 400W Solar Panel — $929 $1,998 (save $1,069)

  • Bluetti Apex 300 — $1,299 $2,399 (save $1,100)

Black Friday cooler deals

Black Friday electric cooler deals

Black Friday hydration deals

Black Friday outdoor speaker deals

Black Friday outdoor tech deals

Black Friday backpacking deals

Black Friday portable projector deals

More Black Friday outdoor deals

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#Black #Friday #outdoor #deals #Yeti #Jackery #LifeStraw #record #lows


The price of eggs has become a marker of the state of the economy. But how about the cost of making eggs? Sure, you might be able to do it for next to nothing in your kitchen with nothing but a pan and a burner. But you could also pay $400 for a robot that will do it for you—as long as you don’t want your eggs scrambled, that is.

A new Kickstarter project has finally given us a Juicero for the robotics era, and it’s called E.G.O.R. (that’s Efficient Gastronomic Operational Robot), brought to you by the startup Cheffy. It’s an automated egg maker that promises perfect cracks every time with no shell in the yolk. It has seven different ways that it can cook them up for you, or you can just use it to do the cracking. You can also pair it with a toaster so your eggs and toast finish at the exact right time.

This isn’t something anyone really needs. Cooking an egg over easy takes about two minutes, so calling this a time-saver is a stretch. And if you really don’t want to use the stove, you can buy a basic egg cooker for around $20 almost anywhere. Maybe you’re bad at cracking eggs, but $400 (well, $200 if you get in on the early bird deal) is a lot to pay to not have to pick the occasional shell pieces out.

But hey, the robotics era needed its Juicero moment. To the creator’s credit: it seems like they’re treating this more like a fun novelty (albeit a pretty pricey one) rather than something revolutionary. They also aren’t making you buy proprietary eggs that are required to make the machine work, so they’ve got the Juicero bros beat there.

We’re increasingly seeing robots positioned to do basic tasks. A company called Weave got attention earlier this year with an $8,000 robot that folds clothes. There’s a company in San Francisco offering house cleanings performed by humanoid robots. Last year, 1x made waves by introducing its Neo humanoid robot, which the Wall Street Journal reported “nearly toppled over” while closing a dishwasher and struggled to open the refrigerator.

All of these machines cost an inordinate amount of money to do things that do not cost the average person that much time or money to accomplish. They’re novel, sure. But you don’t have to pay a premium to be a beta tester.

#Robot #Revolution #Juiceroartifical intelligence,automation,Robotics">The Robot Revolution Gets Its Own Juicero
                The price of eggs has become a marker of the state of the economy. But how about the cost of making eggs? Sure, you might be able to do it for next to nothing in your kitchen with nothing but a pan and a burner. But you could also pay 0 for a robot that will do it for you—as long as you don’t want your eggs scrambled, that is. A new Kickstarter project has finally given us a Juicero for the robotics era, and it’s called E.G.O.R. (that’s Efficient Gastronomic Operational Robot), brought to you by the startup Cheffy. It’s an automated egg maker that promises perfect cracks every time with no shell in the yolk. It has seven different ways that it can cook them up for you, or you can just use it to do the cracking. You can also pair it with a toaster so your eggs and toast finish at the exact right time.  NEW: Cheffy just launched a robot that cracks and cooks your eggs. Egor automates breakfast by cooking eggs 7 ways, while Toastr syncs your toast so everything finishes together. -Automatically cracks eggs with no shells or mess-Cooks eggs 7 ways, from sunny-side up to hard… pic.twitter.com/auE3SnfrS3 — Ritwik Pavan (@ritwikpavan) July 30, 2026  This isn’t something anyone really needs. Cooking an egg over easy takes about two minutes, so calling this a time-saver is a stretch. And if you really don’t want to use the stove, you can buy a basic egg cooker for around  almost anywhere. Maybe you’re bad at cracking eggs, but 0 (well, 0 if you get in on the early bird deal) is a lot to pay to not have to pick the occasional shell pieces out.

 But hey, the robotics era needed its Juicero moment. To the creator’s credit: it seems like they’re treating this more like a fun novelty (albeit a pretty pricey one) rather than something revolutionary. They also aren’t making you buy proprietary eggs that are required to make the machine work, so they’ve got the Juicero bros beat there.

 We’re increasingly seeing robots positioned to do basic tasks. A company called Weave got attention earlier this year with an ,000 robot that folds clothes. There’s a company in San Francisco offering house cleanings performed by humanoid robots. Last year, 1x made waves by introducing its Neo humanoid robot, which the Wall Street Journal reported “nearly toppled over” while closing a dishwasher and struggled to open the refrigerator. All of these machines cost an inordinate amount of money to do things that do not cost the average person that much time or money to accomplish. They’re novel, sure. But you don’t have to pay a premium to be a beta tester.      #Robot #Revolution #Juiceroartifical intelligence,automation,Robotics

Kickstarter project has finally given us a Juicero for the robotics era, and it’s called E.G.O.R. (that’s Efficient Gastronomic Operational Robot), brought to you by the startup Cheffy. It’s an automated egg maker that promises perfect cracks every time with no shell in the yolk. It has seven different ways that it can cook them up for you, or you can just use it to do the cracking. You can also pair it with a toaster so your eggs and toast finish at the exact right time.

This isn’t something anyone really needs. Cooking an egg over easy takes about two minutes, so calling this a time-saver is a stretch. And if you really don’t want to use the stove, you can buy a basic egg cooker for around $20 almost anywhere. Maybe you’re bad at cracking eggs, but $400 (well, $200 if you get in on the early bird deal) is a lot to pay to not have to pick the occasional shell pieces out.

But hey, the robotics era needed its Juicero moment. To the creator’s credit: it seems like they’re treating this more like a fun novelty (albeit a pretty pricey one) rather than something revolutionary. They also aren’t making you buy proprietary eggs that are required to make the machine work, so they’ve got the Juicero bros beat there.

We’re increasingly seeing robots positioned to do basic tasks. A company called Weave got attention earlier this year with an $8,000 robot that folds clothes. There’s a company in San Francisco offering house cleanings performed by humanoid robots. Last year, 1x made waves by introducing its Neo humanoid robot, which the Wall Street Journal reported “nearly toppled over” while closing a dishwasher and struggled to open the refrigerator.

All of these machines cost an inordinate amount of money to do things that do not cost the average person that much time or money to accomplish. They’re novel, sure. But you don’t have to pay a premium to be a beta tester.

#Robot #Revolution #Juiceroartifical intelligence,automation,Robotics">The Robot Revolution Gets Its Own JuiceroThe Robot Revolution Gets Its Own Juicero
                The price of eggs has become a marker of the state of the economy. But how about the cost of making eggs? Sure, you might be able to do it for next to nothing in your kitchen with nothing but a pan and a burner. But you could also pay $400 for a robot that will do it for you—as long as you don’t want your eggs scrambled, that is. A new Kickstarter project has finally given us a Juicero for the robotics era, and it’s called E.G.O.R. (that’s Efficient Gastronomic Operational Robot), brought to you by the startup Cheffy. It’s an automated egg maker that promises perfect cracks every time with no shell in the yolk. It has seven different ways that it can cook them up for you, or you can just use it to do the cracking. You can also pair it with a toaster so your eggs and toast finish at the exact right time.  NEW: Cheffy just launched a robot that cracks and cooks your eggs. Egor automates breakfast by cooking eggs 7 ways, while Toastr syncs your toast so everything finishes together. -Automatically cracks eggs with no shells or mess-Cooks eggs 7 ways, from sunny-side up to hard… pic.twitter.com/auE3SnfrS3 — Ritwik Pavan (@ritwikpavan) July 30, 2026  This isn’t something anyone really needs. Cooking an egg over easy takes about two minutes, so calling this a time-saver is a stretch. And if you really don’t want to use the stove, you can buy a basic egg cooker for around $20 almost anywhere. Maybe you’re bad at cracking eggs, but $400 (well, $200 if you get in on the early bird deal) is a lot to pay to not have to pick the occasional shell pieces out.

 But hey, the robotics era needed its Juicero moment. To the creator’s credit: it seems like they’re treating this more like a fun novelty (albeit a pretty pricey one) rather than something revolutionary. They also aren’t making you buy proprietary eggs that are required to make the machine work, so they’ve got the Juicero bros beat there.

 We’re increasingly seeing robots positioned to do basic tasks. A company called Weave got attention earlier this year with an $8,000 robot that folds clothes. There’s a company in San Francisco offering house cleanings performed by humanoid robots. Last year, 1x made waves by introducing its Neo humanoid robot, which the Wall Street Journal reported “nearly toppled over” while closing a dishwasher and struggled to open the refrigerator. All of these machines cost an inordinate amount of money to do things that do not cost the average person that much time or money to accomplish. They’re novel, sure. But you don’t have to pay a premium to be a beta tester.      #Robot #Revolution #Juiceroartifical intelligence,automation,Robotics

The price of eggs has become a marker of the state of the economy. But how about the cost of making eggs? Sure, you might be able to do it for next to nothing in your kitchen with nothing but a pan and a burner. But you could also pay $400 for a robot that will do it for you—as long as you don’t want your eggs scrambled, that is.

A new Kickstarter project has finally given us a Juicero for the robotics era, and it’s called E.G.O.R. (that’s Efficient Gastronomic Operational Robot), brought to you by the startup Cheffy. It’s an automated egg maker that promises perfect cracks every time with no shell in the yolk. It has seven different ways that it can cook them up for you, or you can just use it to do the cracking. You can also pair it with a toaster so your eggs and toast finish at the exact right time.

This isn’t something anyone really needs. Cooking an egg over easy takes about two minutes, so calling this a time-saver is a stretch. And if you really don’t want to use the stove, you can buy a basic egg cooker for around $20 almost anywhere. Maybe you’re bad at cracking eggs, but $400 (well, $200 if you get in on the early bird deal) is a lot to pay to not have to pick the occasional shell pieces out.

But hey, the robotics era needed its Juicero moment. To the creator’s credit: it seems like they’re treating this more like a fun novelty (albeit a pretty pricey one) rather than something revolutionary. They also aren’t making you buy proprietary eggs that are required to make the machine work, so they’ve got the Juicero bros beat there.

We’re increasingly seeing robots positioned to do basic tasks. A company called Weave got attention earlier this year with an $8,000 robot that folds clothes. There’s a company in San Francisco offering house cleanings performed by humanoid robots. Last year, 1x made waves by introducing its Neo humanoid robot, which the Wall Street Journal reported “nearly toppled over” while closing a dishwasher and struggled to open the refrigerator.

All of these machines cost an inordinate amount of money to do things that do not cost the average person that much time or money to accomplish. They’re novel, sure. But you don’t have to pay a premium to be a beta tester.

#Robot #Revolution #Juiceroartifical intelligence,automation,Robotics

The prevailing narrative in Silicon Valley is that Chinese AI models like Kimi K3 and DeepSeek R1 came out of nowhere. But the truth is that even if you never travel to China, there’s an easy way to get a sense of what Chinese AI researchers are up to: log on to X.

In the past year, I’ve seen a steady increase of Chinese artificial intelligence researchers joining X and participating in the wider discourse about AI development and commercialization. Take Moonshot AI, the company behind Kimi K3, as an example. On Thursday, I was able to quickly find around 30 accounts on X run by people who claim to be currently affiliated with Moonshot, including two of the startup’s cofounders, as well as half a dozen former employees and collaborators. And these are not dormant accounts: They talk about Moonshot’s big releases and incremental research papers, make friends with Western researchers, and share details about their personal life and hobbies.

Moonshot is arguably the Chinese AI lab that’s most active on X, but you will easily find executives and technical staff from other leading Chinese startups, like Minimax and Z.ai. Even several employees at DeepSeek, who reportedly are unable to leave China because the government confiscated their passports, regularly post on X about the latest AI news and share job listings to recruit new talent.

“X is the best community” for AI discussions right now, says Meng Fanqing, cofounder of the startup Evolvent AI and a former intern at Moonshot, where he worked on the Kimi K2.5 model. “There are both Chinese and overseas audiences, and the recommendation algorithm works pretty well for showing you content in the same circle that you are in,” he says. Compared with Chinese platforms, where it’s often hard to have serious technical discussions, Chinese researchers like Meng say they would rather spend their time on X.

Meng says he started actively posting on X in mid-2025. At the start of the year, DeepSeek’s R1 model went viral around the world, shining a bright spotlight on China’s AI industry. Many Chinese researchers seized the moment and joined X to start sharing their perspective. “Around that time, all the Chinese researchers are starting to think about branding on an international level,” Meng says.

Chinese AI researchers may also be helping fill a growing gap left by researchers at OpenAI and Anthropic, who have become more reluctant to share their thinking online as their employers have grown into behemoth companies, says Tiezhen Wang, an independent AI analyst and former researcher at Hugging Face. “I guess they feel that their model architecture and how they train the model is kind of a secret, so they’re posting less,” Wang explains. As a result, Chinese researchers are getting more attention from audiences on X who are hungry to make sense of what’s happening in the fast-moving world of AI.

Why Choose X?

One reason X may have become popular among Chinese AI researchers is that there’s not really a comparable social platform in China for high-quality technical discussions about AI and other emerging technologies.

Some people say they used to post on Zhihu, a Quora-like platform that once branded itself as the premier destination for educated professionals to show and tell. But since 2020, Zhihu has increasingly pivoted to hosting fiction content, and expert contributors have gradually fallen off. For example, Deng Yu, a Chinese mathematician who was awarded a Fields Medal this year, publicly wrote on Zhihu in 2018 that he decided to stop posting on the site due to the rise of low-quality content.

#Chinese #Researchers #Finding #Voicemade in china,china,artificial intelligence,x,twitter,rednote,deepseek">Chinese AI Researchers Are Finding Their Voice on XThe prevailing narrative in Silicon Valley is that Chinese AI models like Kimi K3 and DeepSeek R1 came out of nowhere. But the truth is that even if you never travel to China, there’s an easy way to get a sense of what Chinese AI researchers are up to: log on to X.In the past year, I’ve seen a steady increase of Chinese artificial intelligence researchers joining X and participating in the wider discourse about AI development and commercialization. Take Moonshot AI, the company behind Kimi K3, as an example. On Thursday, I was able to quickly find around 30 accounts on X run by people who claim to be currently affiliated with Moonshot, including two of the startup’s cofounders, as well as half a dozen former employees and collaborators. And these are not dormant accounts: They talk about Moonshot’s big releases and incremental research papers, make friends with Western researchers, and share details about their personal life and hobbies.Moonshot is arguably the Chinese AI lab that’s most active on X, but you will easily find executives and technical staff from other leading Chinese startups, like Minimax and Z.ai. Even several employees at DeepSeek, who reportedly are unable to leave China because the government confiscated their passports, regularly post on X about the latest AI news and share job listings to recruit new talent.“X is the best community” for AI discussions right now, says Meng Fanqing, cofounder of the startup Evolvent AI and a former intern at Moonshot, where he worked on the Kimi K2.5 model. “There are both Chinese and overseas audiences, and the recommendation algorithm works pretty well for showing you content in the same circle that you are in,” he says. Compared with Chinese platforms, where it’s often hard to have serious technical discussions, Chinese researchers like Meng say they would rather spend their time on X.Meng says he started actively posting on X in mid-2025. At the start of the year, DeepSeek’s R1 model went viral around the world, shining a bright spotlight on China’s AI industry. Many Chinese researchers seized the moment and joined X to start sharing their perspective. “Around that time, all the Chinese researchers are starting to think about branding on an international level,” Meng says.Chinese AI researchers may also be helping fill a growing gap left by researchers at OpenAI and Anthropic, who have become more reluctant to share their thinking online as their employers have grown into behemoth companies, says Tiezhen Wang, an independent AI analyst and former researcher at Hugging Face. “I guess they feel that their model architecture and how they train the model is kind of a secret, so they’re posting less,” Wang explains. As a result, Chinese researchers are getting more attention from audiences on X who are hungry to make sense of what’s happening in the fast-moving world of AI.Why Choose X?One reason X may have become popular among Chinese AI researchers is that there’s not really a comparable social platform in China for high-quality technical discussions about AI and other emerging technologies.Some people say they used to post on Zhihu, a Quora-like platform that once branded itself as the premier destination for educated professionals to show and tell. But since 2020, Zhihu has increasingly pivoted to hosting fiction content, and expert contributors have gradually fallen off. For example, Deng Yu, a Chinese mathematician who was awarded a Fields Medal this year, publicly wrote on Zhihu in 2018 that he decided to stop posting on the site due to the rise of low-quality content.#Chinese #Researchers #Finding #Voicemade in china,china,artificial intelligence,x,twitter,rednote,deepseek

Chinese AI models like Kimi K3 and DeepSeek R1 came out of nowhere. But the truth is that even if you never travel to China, there’s an easy way to get a sense of what Chinese AI researchers are up to: log on to X.

In the past year, I’ve seen a steady increase of Chinese artificial intelligence researchers joining X and participating in the wider discourse about AI development and commercialization. Take Moonshot AI, the company behind Kimi K3, as an example. On Thursday, I was able to quickly find around 30 accounts on X run by people who claim to be currently affiliated with Moonshot, including two of the startup’s cofounders, as well as half a dozen former employees and collaborators. And these are not dormant accounts: They talk about Moonshot’s big releases and incremental research papers, make friends with Western researchers, and share details about their personal life and hobbies.

Moonshot is arguably the Chinese AI lab that’s most active on X, but you will easily find executives and technical staff from other leading Chinese startups, like Minimax and Z.ai. Even several employees at DeepSeek, who reportedly are unable to leave China because the government confiscated their passports, regularly post on X about the latest AI news and share job listings to recruit new talent.

“X is the best community” for AI discussions right now, says Meng Fanqing, cofounder of the startup Evolvent AI and a former intern at Moonshot, where he worked on the Kimi K2.5 model. “There are both Chinese and overseas audiences, and the recommendation algorithm works pretty well for showing you content in the same circle that you are in,” he says. Compared with Chinese platforms, where it’s often hard to have serious technical discussions, Chinese researchers like Meng say they would rather spend their time on X.

Meng says he started actively posting on X in mid-2025. At the start of the year, DeepSeek’s R1 model went viral around the world, shining a bright spotlight on China’s AI industry. Many Chinese researchers seized the moment and joined X to start sharing their perspective. “Around that time, all the Chinese researchers are starting to think about branding on an international level,” Meng says.

Chinese AI researchers may also be helping fill a growing gap left by researchers at OpenAI and Anthropic, who have become more reluctant to share their thinking online as their employers have grown into behemoth companies, says Tiezhen Wang, an independent AI analyst and former researcher at Hugging Face. “I guess they feel that their model architecture and how they train the model is kind of a secret, so they’re posting less,” Wang explains. As a result, Chinese researchers are getting more attention from audiences on X who are hungry to make sense of what’s happening in the fast-moving world of AI.

Why Choose X?

One reason X may have become popular among Chinese AI researchers is that there’s not really a comparable social platform in China for high-quality technical discussions about AI and other emerging technologies.

Some people say they used to post on Zhihu, a Quora-like platform that once branded itself as the premier destination for educated professionals to show and tell. But since 2020, Zhihu has increasingly pivoted to hosting fiction content, and expert contributors have gradually fallen off. For example, Deng Yu, a Chinese mathematician who was awarded a Fields Medal this year, publicly wrote on Zhihu in 2018 that he decided to stop posting on the site due to the rise of low-quality content.

#Chinese #Researchers #Finding #Voicemade in china,china,artificial intelligence,x,twitter,rednote,deepseek">Chinese AI Researchers Are Finding Their Voice on X

The prevailing narrative in Silicon Valley is that Chinese AI models like Kimi K3 and DeepSeek R1 came out of nowhere. But the truth is that even if you never travel to China, there’s an easy way to get a sense of what Chinese AI researchers are up to: log on to X.

In the past year, I’ve seen a steady increase of Chinese artificial intelligence researchers joining X and participating in the wider discourse about AI development and commercialization. Take Moonshot AI, the company behind Kimi K3, as an example. On Thursday, I was able to quickly find around 30 accounts on X run by people who claim to be currently affiliated with Moonshot, including two of the startup’s cofounders, as well as half a dozen former employees and collaborators. And these are not dormant accounts: They talk about Moonshot’s big releases and incremental research papers, make friends with Western researchers, and share details about their personal life and hobbies.

Moonshot is arguably the Chinese AI lab that’s most active on X, but you will easily find executives and technical staff from other leading Chinese startups, like Minimax and Z.ai. Even several employees at DeepSeek, who reportedly are unable to leave China because the government confiscated their passports, regularly post on X about the latest AI news and share job listings to recruit new talent.

“X is the best community” for AI discussions right now, says Meng Fanqing, cofounder of the startup Evolvent AI and a former intern at Moonshot, where he worked on the Kimi K2.5 model. “There are both Chinese and overseas audiences, and the recommendation algorithm works pretty well for showing you content in the same circle that you are in,” he says. Compared with Chinese platforms, where it’s often hard to have serious technical discussions, Chinese researchers like Meng say they would rather spend their time on X.

Meng says he started actively posting on X in mid-2025. At the start of the year, DeepSeek’s R1 model went viral around the world, shining a bright spotlight on China’s AI industry. Many Chinese researchers seized the moment and joined X to start sharing their perspective. “Around that time, all the Chinese researchers are starting to think about branding on an international level,” Meng says.

Chinese AI researchers may also be helping fill a growing gap left by researchers at OpenAI and Anthropic, who have become more reluctant to share their thinking online as their employers have grown into behemoth companies, says Tiezhen Wang, an independent AI analyst and former researcher at Hugging Face. “I guess they feel that their model architecture and how they train the model is kind of a secret, so they’re posting less,” Wang explains. As a result, Chinese researchers are getting more attention from audiences on X who are hungry to make sense of what’s happening in the fast-moving world of AI.

Why Choose X?

One reason X may have become popular among Chinese AI researchers is that there’s not really a comparable social platform in China for high-quality technical discussions about AI and other emerging technologies.

Some people say they used to post on Zhihu, a Quora-like platform that once branded itself as the premier destination for educated professionals to show and tell. But since 2020, Zhihu has increasingly pivoted to hosting fiction content, and expert contributors have gradually fallen off. For example, Deng Yu, a Chinese mathematician who was awarded a Fields Medal this year, publicly wrote on Zhihu in 2018 that he decided to stop posting on the site due to the rise of low-quality content.

#Chinese #Researchers #Finding #Voicemade in china,china,artificial intelligence,x,twitter,rednote,deepseek

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