Kimi AI

Kimi is an artificial intelligence assistant, similar to ChatGPT, created by the Chinese company Moonshot AI, which also gives that name to its family of models. You can use it for free from its website and apps, with usage limits, and it has paid plans for those who need more (checked in September 2026). It's known for handling very long texts and for models designed to work as agents and to code.

It's worth distinguishing the assistant from the model. The assistant is the app where you chat; the models (the K2 series and its successors) can also be used through its API and, in many cases, downloaded, because Moonshot publishes their weights. That doesn't mean you can run them at home: they're huge models, designed for data centres. And what usually goes unnoticed is the usual story with free services: before pasting your company's documents in, read what they do with what you type.

Kimi is one of the AIs I use besides Claude. What its free version gives you and where it cuts you off I explain in "Can you work professionally with free AI tools?". What I use it for, how it compares with Claude and OpenAI on real tasks of mine and what data I give it and what I don't, in "Kimi, GLM and MiniMax: the Chinese alternatives I use". If you're unsure whether to bring it into your work, you'll want to read both.