MiniMax (company)

{{Infobox company

| name = MiniMax

| native_name =

| logo = MiniMax.png

| logo_upright = 0.8

| type = Private

| foundation = {{start date and age|2021|12}}

| location = Shanghai, China

| founders = {{Unbulleted list

| Yan Junjie

| Yang Bin

| Zhou Yucong

}}

| key_people = {{Unbulleted list

| Yan Junjie (CEO)

}}

| owner =

| num_employees = 100+ (2023)

| industry = Information technology

| subsid =

| homepage = {{URL|https://www.minimax.io|minimax.io}}

| footnotes =

}}

MiniMax is an artificial intelligence (AI) company based in Shanghai, China. As of 2024, it has been dubbed one of China's "AI Tiger" companies by investors.

Background

MiniMax was founded in December 2021 by several computer vision veterans from SenseTime. When it first started out, it received funding from MiHoYo.{{Cite web |date=2 September 2024 |title=Chinese AI 'tiger' MiniMax launches text-to-video-generating model to rival OpenAI's Sora |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-ai-tiger-minimax-launches-093000322.html |access-date=8 September 2024 |website=Yahoo Finance |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Liu |first=Roxanne |date=1 June 2023 |title=China AI startup MiniMax raising over $250 million from Tencent-backed entity, others |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/china-ai-startup-minimax-raising-over-250-mln-tencent-backed-entity-others-2023-06-01/ |website=Reuters |access-date=8 September 2024 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928120743/https://www.reuters.com/technology/china-ai-startup-minimax-raising-over-250-mln-tencent-backed-entity-others-2023-06-01/ |url-status=live }}

In March 2024, Alibaba Group led a $600 million financing round for MiniMax giving it a valuation of $2.5 billion. Other investors of MiniMax include Hillhouse Investment, HongShan, IDG Capital and Tencent.{{Cite news |last=Zhang |first=Jane |date=5 March 2024 |title=Alibaba Backs $2.5 Billion AI Firm in Second Big 2024 Deal |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-05/alibaba-backs-2-5-billion-ai-startup-in-second-major-2024-deal |access-date=8 September 2024 |work=Bloomberg.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Dotson |first=Kyt |date=5 March 2024 |title=Report: Chinese AI startup MiniMax raises $600M at $2.5B valuation led by Alibaba |url=https://siliconangle.com/2024/03/05/report-chinese-ai-startup-minimax-raises-600m-2-5b-valuation-led-alibaba/ |access-date=8 September 2024 |website=SiliconANGLE |language=en-US |archive-date=8 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240908120353/https://siliconangle.com/2024/03/05/report-chinese-ai-startup-minimax-raises-600m-2-5b-valuation-led-alibaba/ |url-status=live }}

In October 2024, it was reported Chinese phone makers opted for Minimax with regards to its foundational AI large models.{{Cite web |last=Liang |first=Amanda |date=2024-10-23 |title=Chinese phone makers opt for MiniMax AI amid development challenges |url=https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20241021PD222/mobile-development-smartphone-oppo-xiaomi.html |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=DIGITIMES |language=en}}

Products

= Talkie =

MiniMax's first product was Glow which was launched in October 2022. The app allowed users to create virtual characters, give them background stories and then chat with them about various topics. Only four months after launch, the app had over 5 million users. Due to filing issues, Glow was terminated in March 2023.{{Cite web |date=30 July 2024 |title=MiniMax：中国AI伴侣巨头，全球市场的新势力 |url=https://finance.sina.com.cn/money/bond/2024-07-30/doc-incfxety7988686.shtml |access-date=8 September 2024 |website=finance.sina.com.cn |archive-date=8 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240908120358/https://finance.sina.com.cn/money/bond/2024-07-30/doc-incfxety7988686.shtml |url-status=live }}

Glow was relaunched under two new brands: Talkie, launched for international markets in June 2023, and Xing Ye ({{Lang|zh|星野}}), introduced in September 2023 for the Chinese market.

Talkie was profiled The Wall Street Journal in July 2024. For June 2024 Talkie ranked fifth among the most-downloaded free entertainment apps in the U.S. More than half of Talkie's 11 million monthly active users were in the U.S. Other popular markets included Philippines, the U.K. and Canada. Talkie offered AI-generated conversations with people such as Donald Trump, Taylor Swift, Elon Musk and LeBron James.{{Cite web |last=Huang |first=Raffaele |date=27 July 2024 |title=One of America’s Hottest Entertainment Apps Is Chinese-Owned |url=https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/one-of-americas-hottest-entertainment-apps-is-chinese-owned-04257355 |website=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=27 October 2024 |archive-date=3 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241003072617/https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/one-of-americas-hottest-entertainment-apps-is-chinese-owned-04257355 |url-status=live }}

= Hailuo AI =

File:Cyberpunk Rainy Street (Hailuo AI).webm

In March 2024, MiniMax launched Hailuo AI, a multimodal large language model consumer platform that provides AI text and music-generating features.

In September 2024, MiniMax launched video-01, a text-to-video model under Hailuo AI. A review by Tom's Guide stated it roughly equivalent to Luma Labs Dream Machine but not as good as Runway Gen-3.{{Cite web |last=Morrison |first=Ryan |date=2 September 2024 |title=Forget Sora — MiniMax is a new realistic AI video generator and it's seriously impressive |url=https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/ai-image-video/forget-sora-minimax-is-a-new-realistic-ai-video-generator-and-it-is-seriously-impressive |access-date=8 September 2024 |website=Tom's Guide |language=en |archive-date=7 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240907030909/https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/ai-image-video/forget-sora-minimax-is-a-new-realistic-ai-video-generator-and-it-is-seriously-impressive |url-status=live }}

In December 2024, Broadcast reported that Hailuo AI can reproduce the logos of British television channels Channel 4, Channel 5, and ITV in its AI-generated videos.{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Max |date=2024-12-16 |title=Exclusive: Major UK broadcasters investigate AI video generator |url=https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/tech-innovation/exclusive-major-uk-broadcasters-investigate-ai-video-generator/5200038.article |access-date=2024-12-24 |website=Broadcast |language=en}}

On 20 January 2025, MiniMax launched audio functions for Hailuo AI.{{Cite web |last=Zheng |first=Xutong |date=22 January 2025 |title=Chinese AI Firms Debut New LLMs to Rival OpenAI's Powerful O1 in Math and Coding |url=https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/chinese-ai-firms-debut-new-llms-to-rival-openais-powerful-o1-in-math-and-coding |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=Yicai Global |language=en}}

On 28 January 2025, MiniMax release the Model T2V-01-Director and I2V-01-Director, is the latest addition to the Hailuo AI Video-01 Model family, are designed to revolutionize video creation by putting professional filmmaking tools at fingertips.{{Cite web |last=Kai|first=Bergin |date=30 January 2025 |title=T2V-01-Director mode tested ! |url=https://medium.com/@kaibergin39/t2v-01-director-mode-tested-82f08c6d5157 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=Medium |language=en}} T2V-01-Director and I2V-01-Director introduce a significant reduction in movement randomness, ensuring that every frame adheres strictly to creative intent. This heightened level of control allows for more accurate and nuanced storytelling.{{Cite web |last=Filipa |first=Kinomoto |date=1 February 2025 |title=Hailuo AI’s T2V-01 Director Mode |url=https://kinomotomag.com/2025/02/01/hailuo-ais-t2v-01-director-mode/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |language=en}}

Technology

On 17 April 2024, MiniMax officially launched the ABAB 6.5 series, a mixture of experts language model.

In January 2025, Minimax unveiled the MiniMax-01 large language model (LLM) family, which includes a general-purpose foundational model, the MiniMax-Text-01, and the multimodal MiniMax-VL-01 with visual capabilities.{{Cite web |last=Jiang |first=Ben |date=2025-01-16 |title=Chinese AI start-up MiniMax intensifies competition with new open-source models |url=https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3294900/chinese-ai-start-minimax-releases-low-cost-open-source-models-rival-top-chatbots |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}

In April 2025, Minimax released Speech-02, a new text-to-speech model. It supports over 30 languages and can process up to 200,000 characters at once.{{Cite web |date=2025-04-02 |title=MiniMax Audio Launches Speech-02 Voice Model: Supports 200,000 Characters at Once |url=https://www.aibase.com/news/16798 |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}