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What This Book Lover Is Gifting Her Fellow Readers

What This Book Lover Is Gifting Her Fellow Readers

I love losing myself in a good book, and I’m not the only one. Finding great gifts for book lovers isn’t just about testing for the best e-reader (which we have!) or rounding up all the accessories worth adding to your Kindle (we’ve done that too), but rather it’s about setting up your favorite reader to keep enjoying stories.

You can help them with anything from a new reading gadget or a handy accessory to cozy items to settle in for a nice, long reading session. After all, if there’s anything we’ve learned from the rise of #BookTok, it’s that there’s no lack of accessories and items that can make a reader happier than ever. Here are our favorite gifts for book lovers we’re shopping this season.

Be sure also to check out our other buying guides, including Best Kindles, Best E-Readers, Best Kindle Accessories, Best Tablets, and Best Digital Notebooks. If you’re on the hunt for more gifts, don’t miss our guides to the Best Viral Gifts, Best Gifts for Bird Lovers, Best Subscription Boxes for Gifting, and many more.

Updated December 2025: We’ve added new gifts, including the Kobo Remote, WithIt Duo Reading Light, and Kindle Sling Bag, and ensured up-to-date links and prices.

Featured Gifts

A Fun Case and Grip

PopSockets PopCase Kindle and PopGrip

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Table of Contents

A New E-Reader

When I got back into reading, I fell in love with ebooks and getting free copies from the library that I would read on my Libby app. That year, for my birthday, I was gifted a Kindle from two different people, and I’ve never looked back. Whether they’re a new reader looking for a better way to read one who’s complaining about how heavy their books are, an e-reader makes for a great solution (and you can still get those free library books on it!).

Kobo

Libra Colour

If they have an e-reader but want the option to use color, the Kobo Libra Colour is the best option. It lets them use a range of colors as they read, and you can add on a stylus to turn it into a digital notebook. It’s got page-turner buttons, which are great and something you won’t find on Kindle.

Kobo

Clara Colour

This e-reader from Kobo is the same price as the Kindle Paperwhite, but it comes with a color screen. It’s a smaller 6-inch size like the base Kindle, and I love how lightweight it is to hold. It’s a great budget color e-reader if you don’t want the Libra’s stylus and notebook feature.

Amazon

Kindle Paperwhite (2024, 12th Generation)

If they don’t have a Kindle, the 12th-edition Paperwhite is our favorite one. It’s got a warm front light and great battery life, and it comes in a fun pink color. Upgrade to Signature for an auto-adjusting light and more storage (aka more books!).

Amazon

Kindle Scribe (2024)

The Kindle Scribe 2 is a great e-reader and digital notebook in one. It’s larger than the Libra Color, making it easy to write and draw on, but the downside is it doesn’t have a color screen. There’s a color model coming out this month, though, so keep an eye out to see if we recommend it in our Best Kindles guide.


E-Reader Accessories

From cute cases to handy straps that make reading easier, there’s no lack of fun options to add to a Kindle or other e-readers.

PopSockets

PopCase Kindle and PopGrip

PopSockets has a new collection of Kindle cases that have a MagSafe ring, so you can easily pop on a PopSocket grip. The Curled Up With a Good Book design has a matching case and grip you can use together.

SleepCover

This handy case not only looks nice, but the lines on the cover actually allow it to fold and prop the Kobo up while you read it. So handy! It comes in cute colors and is available for multiple Kobo devices, including the Clara and Libra.

PopSockets

Heart of Silver MagSafe PopGrip

This is my favorite PopGrip. It’s big enough that my small hands can comfortably reach it on the 7-inch Paperwhite and Colorsoft, and it is both cool to the touch and to look at.

Strapsicle

E-Reader Hand Strap

These straps from Strapsicle make it really easy to hold up an e-reader. They’re easy to attach, and I even find just using one of the two straps secures it. The limited-edition neon collection is super fun and worth shopping before it runs out.


Accessories for Physical Book Readers

No e-reader? No problem. These book lights solve the constant struggle for a book reader: darkness getting in the way of their reading.

WithIt

Duo Reading Light

This cute book light from WithIt shines an individual light on each half of the book, and the soft arms are easy to move around independently to point perfectly at each page. It has two levels of brightness to click through.

Kobo

Remote

Kobo has released its first-ever page turner accessory, so you can click to turn the page without lifting a finger. I’m thrilled to finally see a page turner made by an e-reader brand, rather than crappy third-party options.


Book Bags

If the book lover in your life is known for toting their e-reader or book of choice everywhere they go, here are some fun accessories for carrying them around (and for logging their thoughts as they read!).

Amazon

Kindle Sling Bag

This sleek sling bag is a great size for bringing your Kindle and a few other necessities without being too bulky. The GRS-certified recycled leather exterior the recycled leather exterior has a sturdy but smooth feel to it.

New York Public Library

Library Card Tote Bag

This tote bag screams “I love books” in the best way possible. It’s a great size with, nice long straps that make it super comfortable to wear.


Stickers, Journals, and Annotation Tools

Whether they’re looking to decorate their e-reader or the pages of their books, there’s a fun add-on here for every kind of reader.

Strapsicle

Sweet Stickers

Strapsicle recently launched stickers, with both a sweet and spicy pack. It’s a nice-size set that could easily decorate multiple e-readers.

Papier

Reading Journal

If they’re constantly crushing a new read, get them a journal to track everything they’ve read and how they liked it.

Book Tabs

I don’t like primary colors while I annotate my books. This pack is similar to but much larger than a set I found at my local Daiso, and the pastel colors are much more pleasing on the eyes as I mark up my book pages.

Passion Planner

Passion Highlighters

I love these highlighters for my paper planners, and they’re a great option for readers who like to highlight passages. There’s a highlighter and pen end for each color if they like to underline.


Reading Vibes

Gifts for your local book lover aren’t just giving books and book items. Help them set the mood while they read with these cozy gift ideas.

James Wax

Reading Time Candle

The label says it all. Give them a candle to alert everyone they’re busy reading. I’ve tried all four scents you can choose from, and my favorites are the mimosa and white tea scents.

Sony

WH-1000XM6

Help them block out the world while read (or take part in immersion reading, where you listen to the audiobook while you read the physical book at the same time) with our favorite noise-canceling headphones.

East Fork

The Mug

Give them a gorgeous mug to stay hydrated with their drink of choice while they read, whether that’s a nice cup of tea or a hot toddy.

Beautiful by Drew Barrymore

Electric Kettle

They’ll need some hot water with that cup of tea, and this chic electric kettle is both stylish and affordable without slacking on performance.

Ugg

Men’s Neuman

Give the gift of happy, cozy feet with our favorite set of men’s slippers. Our WIRED reviewer says these slippers hold up well and have the classic Ugg front, with a low back that makes them easy to slip on and off.


Gorgeous Books and Boxed Sets

Looking to give the gift of a true book? These box sets and illustrated editions are worth collecting.

Lord of the Rings Illustrated Editions

If there’s a book I want to get my husband that he’s already read, it’s these beautiful illustrated editions of Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and even The Silmarillion.

One Piece

Maybe they’ve been a One Piece fan for years. Maybe they’re a new fan after seeing the Netflix series. You can start their collection of the still-running manga or even give a couple initial volumes to get them hooked on the original.

Crescent City Boxed Set

If they’re fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses, it’s official: They’ll need to read Sarah J. Maas’ other series, Crescent City, to keep up with what happens in the next ACOTAR book. The first one is my favorite.

Judy Blume Essentials (Boxed Set)

by Judy Blume

These are a great series of books if you’re shopping for an elementary reader or teenager. The books have held up, with Blume’s themes still resonating years later.


Book Subscriptions

Buying a book for someone can be hard if you’re not sure what they’re into or what they’ve already read. But covering a few months of a subscription is the gift that gives over and over again.

Audible

If you know someone struggling with time to sit down and read, give them an Audible subscription so they can listen to books while they drive, do chores, work out, and so much more.

Book of the Month

Subscription

Book of the Month is a subscription for the reader who loves physical books. Every month, there are five to seven titles to choose from that ship right to their door (they can skip months if nothing catches their eye).

Parnassus

Signed First Editions Club

WIRED reviewer Adrienne So has subscribed for years (on and off) to Parnassus Signed First Editions, from novelist Ann Patchett’s store in Nashville, Tennessee. The books are mainly literary fiction, with occasional nonfiction. Every book she’s gotten has been an absolute banger.


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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.

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