As the 2026 FIFA World Cup brings together more nations, more matches and more excitement, a competition has intensified off the pitch among China's leading artificial intelligence models, which are being put to the test in predicting the results of one of the world's biggest sporting events.
The 23rd edition of the World Cup, featuring 48 teams, is being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. It opened on Thursday and runs through July 19.
Several Chinese large language models, including Qwen, DeepSeek, Kimi and MiniMax, have rolled out prediction features, turning the tournament into a new testing ground for AI-powered reasoning and data analysis.
"As one of the most-watched sporting events across the globe, the World Cup offers AI companies a rare opportunity to showcase the computing power and analytical skills of their LLMs to a wider audience," said Guo Tao, a member of the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence and a senior expert in AI.
Several AI platforms have come up with interactive campaigns. For instance, Moonshot AI's Kimi has launched a 1 trillion-token reward pool, allowing users to share prizes by correctly predicting match winners and the final champion. A token refers to the smallest unit of data processed by AI models.
