New Chinese AI – free for download – can be run on a consumer-grade laptop and is rated nearly as powerful as ChatGPT and similar ‘bleeding edge’ AI.

The development represents an incredible breakthrough for writers – many of whom are looking for AI that writes much more creatively than the currently bland, ‘corporate voice,’ cloud-based offerings like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.

Dubbed Qwen 3.8-27B, the new Open Source AI can be downloaded and run for free on a laptop that sports as little as 17GB RAM.

Essentially, writers with powerful laptops can try-out Qwen using their favorite prompts for creative writing – and then decide if Qwen makes the grade.

The long-term bonus: Even if this version of Qwen is not creative enough for you, the mere fact that AI of such power can now be run on a consumer-grade laptop indicates similarly powerful Open Source AI from other developers will soon be coming to powerful laptops.

Even better: Offering a highly creative writing alternative to corporate-voice AI is already child’s play for many AI developers.

The reason: ChatGPT-4o, released way back in May 2024 — but ‘retired’ by maker OpenAI in favor of AI that writes in a bland voice — is considered the pinnacle of AI creative writing by many writers.

Achieving that level of AI – available since May 2024 – is something most competitive, Open Source AI makers these days can whip-up in their sleep.

Bottom line: If you’re looking to download and try this version of Qwen on your laptop or similar, check-out LM Studio. Even if you’re a novice, you should be able to download the AI and get it running on your computer with just a bit of effort.

In other news and analysis on AI writing:

*Google Offers College Students the World Over Free Year of Premium AI: In the Age of AI, there apparently is such a thing as a free lunch.

Google has announced college students in 140 markets worldwide are eligible for free access to its premium AI for a year.

U.S. students get the best deal – 12 months of access to Google AI Pro – while students in other countries get free access to the less generous Google AI Plus.

*‘ChatGPT for Teens’ Rolls-Out: Responding to parental concerns that ChatGPT may be too intense for teenagers, maker OpenAI now has a special teen version of its AI.

Observes writer Cecilia Kang: “The chatbot will limit high-risk conversations that involve self-harm, violence, eating disorders and explicit sexual and graphic content.

“In some cases, ChatGPT will alert adults who have opted-in to parental controls and notifications. And the mode will strengthen protections that prevent the chatbot from suggesting it has personal feelings.”

*Now You Can Add Your Favorite News Sources to Google Search: Writers and others who use Google Search regularly can now instruct the tool to seek out their favorite news source on any search.

Dubbed ‘Preferred Sources,’ the new feature works when you look for a topic in the news, click on the ‘Top Stories’ icon, search for preferred news sources — then select the sources you want.

Observes writer Duncan Osborn: “Once you select your sources, they will appear more frequently in Top Stories or in a dedicated ‘From your sources’ section on the search results page.”

*Google Now Auto-Transcribes Face-to-Face Meetings: Gemini-powered Google Meet is now able to record, transcribe and summarize the kind of meetings people used to have before nternet, video cameras and Zoom became a thing.

Observes TechRepublic: “Gemini turns the conversation into a Google Doc, with a summary and action items.”

One caveat: The AI-generated summaries may not be entirely accurate.

*Google’s Open Source AI Passes One Billion Downloads: Google’s answer to free Chinese AI – Gemma – has been downloaded more than a billion times.

Equally eyebrow-raising: More than 100,000 versions of Gemma have been created by AI developers, who have tweaked the free-to-use AI to their personal specifications.

Not bad — but no cigar.

According to writer Ana Maria Constantin, a Chinese competitor to Google says its Qwen Open Source AI has been downloaded three billion times.

Ouch.

*Social Network Reddit Auto-Converting Text Posts to Videos: Reddit – known as the social network for thinking people – is testing the idea of transforming some posts on the network into YouTube-like videos.

Observes writer Amanda Yeo: “The feature hopes to capitalize on the popularity of videos that read Reddit posts aloud.

“The original text posts and comments will still be available in their usual format, allowing you to choose whether to read or listen to the content.”

*Nvidia Earmarks $6 Billion to Combat Chinese AI: Powerhouse AI chipmaker NVidia plans to drop $6 billion to develop Open Source AI to compete with similar AI made in China.

Ever since the advent of Chinese Open Source AI DeepSeek, the U.S. has been wary of the Open Source AI genre, which is free for download, free to use — and nearly as good as ‘bleeding edge’ U.S. AI.

Observes writer Robbie Whelan: “The failure of U.S. AI labs to give priority to open-source models has created concerns that businesses and countries around the world will turn to Chinese open-weight models instead.”

*U.S. to Allies: Choose Between U.S. AI – or Chinese AI – Now: In yet another indication of the gravity of who ultimately controls AI, the Trump Administration will soon ask 35 allies to choose between using its U.S. AI ecosystem – or its Chinese competitor.

Observes writer Ana-Maria Stanciuc: “Belonging to both is no longer an option.

“Roughly two dozen nations have joined so far, including Japan, Australia and South Korea.”

*AI Big Picture: ChatGPT-Maker Launches New Blog, ‘AI Futures:’ OpenAI is out with a new blog focusing exclusively on how a free society should adapt to the advent of AI.

Observes writer Dean Ball: “The structural challenge posed by advanced machine intelligence to free society is likely not the most radical decentralization of power imaginable.

“Instead, it is seeking to establish and preserve the right balance of power, such that no single actor, or small set of actors, can dominate the rest.”

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–Joe Dysart is editor of RobotWritersAI.com and a tech journalist with 20+ years experience. His work has appeared in 150+ publications, including The New York Times and the Financial Times of London.