ChatGPT Study Mode, China's AI Hub, Cloudflare's Bold Experiment

Hangzhou has become the center of China’s A.I. boom, buoyed by decade-old subsidies and tax breaks that pull in waves of entrepreneurs. In Liangzhu suburb, ex-Alibaba researcher Felix Tao’s backyard gatherings unite coders, investors, and would-be founders hunting for breakthroughs.

Government incentives have incubated hundreds of start-ups, including DeepSeek, which in January unveiled a top-tier model built for a fraction of Silicon Valley’s costs. DeepSeek and Alibaba now dominate global open-source leaderboards, while Hangzhou’s “six tigers” such as Game Science and Unitree extend the city’s influence beyond software.

Founders say the same government backing that fuels growth also deters foreign venture capital, boxing many firms into a domestic focus. Tight U.S. export limits on advanced chips compound the strain, so companies are stockpiling Nvidia hardware while local suppliers like Huawei and SMIC race to offer workable substitutes.

OpenAI is testing a “Study together” mode in ChatGPT for collaborative sessions or AI-guided tutoring. The feature is appearing for selected testers but remains inactive.

References to the mode first surfaced in May, and users spotted it widely today. OpenAI is also trialing connectors for GPT Search and Deep Research, including a Slack link that lets ChatGPT analyze a user’s messages.

The simultaneous rollout of Study Mode and data connectors shows OpenAI broadening ChatGPT beyond solo Q&A. This comes as the company readies GPT-5 while grappling with strains in its Microsoft alliance and talent poaching by Meta.

Cloudflare launches Pay per Crawl, a private-beta marketplace that lets website owners charge AI bots a micropayment each time they scrape content. Publishers can also choose to allow free access or block individual crawlers through the same toolset.

New Cloudflare domains now block all AI crawlers by default, forcing owners to grant permission manually. Conde Nast, TIME, The Associated Press, The Atlantic, ADWEEK, and Fortune support the approach, and transactions flow through Cloudflare accounts for both publishers and AI firms.

Cloudflare reports OpenAI’s crawler scraped sites 1,700 times for every referral in June, while Google’s ratio was 14:1 and Anthropic’s 73,000:1. The stark imbalance highlights why paid crawling is pitched as a lifeline for publishers and cements Cloudflare’s role as the intermediary.

AI-powered virtual YouTuber Bloo has attracted 2.5 million subscribers, 700 million views, and more than seven figures in revenue. The Pixar-style avatar is puppeteered in real time by Jordi van den Bussche, while AI tools manage thumbnails, translations and voiceovers.

Advances from ElevenLabs, OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and newcomers such as Hedra are slashing the cost and time of launching VTubers. Hedra’s Character-3 platform, fresh off a $32 million raise led by Andreessen Horowitz, already powers viral projects like Jon Lajoie’s Talking Baby Podcast and virtual singer Milla Sofia.

Entrepreneurs are turning the model into a volume game, running up to 80 faceless AI videos a day and planning networks of dozens of channels. Critics label the resulting flood of low-effort clips “AI slop,” yet creators say view counts prove audiences will keep consuming the machine-made content.

Meta is testing chatbots that message users proactively on Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Each bot can initiate a follow-up within 14 days, but only after the user has sent five messages during that period.

Data labeling firm Alignerr is helping train the customizable bots, which remember details from past conversations. Creators build them in Meta's AI Studio and can keep them private or share them via stories, links, or profile displays.

The strategy mirrors engagement-driven companions from Character.AI and Replika, one of which is already facing a wrongful-death lawsuit. Meta issued safety disclaimers and stayed silent on ad integration, age limits, and other monetization details.