8:00 am, Yike Daily | Ms. Zhang responds to being sued for 10 million yuan by iKang Health Checkup Group; Li Auto will hold those responsible for negative reviews such as "illegal parking"; OpenAI officially launches GPT-5.

Top 3 Big News

Ms. Zhang Responds to a Claim of 10 Million Yuan from IKANG

There is the latest development in the case of the dispute over the right of reputation between female lawyer Ms. Zhang and IKANG. According to The Paper, on the evening of August 7th, IKANG filed a lawsuit over the right of reputation with the People's Court of Pudong New Area, Shanghai, suing Ms. Zhang for infringing on its right of reputation and claiming 10 million yuan in economic losses and rights - protection expenses. Ms. Zhang said that she had received the summons, civil complaint, and evidence list sent by the People's Court of Pudong New Area, Shanghai. The summons shows that the case will be heard in the Third Court of Lujiazui on September 11th.

In response, Ms. Zhang told reporters that she would actively respond to the lawsuit. She said that she had been living in Beijing and having physical examinations in Beijing, and it was also a dispute with IKANG's independent legal entity in Beijing. She would raise an objection to the jurisdiction. On the same day, reporters also contacted IKANG about this matter, but had not received a reply as of the time of publication.

The complaint shows that the three plaintiffs believe that, first, as a corporate legal entity legally operating in China, the plaintiffs enjoy extremely high popularity and good reputation in the physical examination industry, and their right of reputation is protected by law. Second, the defendant was diagnosed with "early - stage kidney cancer" one year after having physical examinations at three of the plaintiffs' facilities, but she falsely claimed that she was "diagnosed with advanced - stage cancer in 2024" and deliberately fabricated and widely spread the claim that the plaintiffs conducted "fake physical examinations", which actually damaged the plaintiffs' right of reputation. (Yicai Global)

Li Auto to Pursue Accountability for Negative Reviews Such as "Illegal Parking"

Early on August 7th, Li Auto's legal department issued a statement saying that recently the company had received reports from multiple car owners, reflecting that a large number of misleading negative reviews targeting Li Auto owners had emerged intensively on various online platforms. These reviews have greatly damaged the image of Li Auto users and caused serious disruptions to their online and offline lives. Li Auto stated, "The company will firmly stand behind each and every one of our car owners. We are warning those behind these actions that the company is collecting relevant evidence and will resolutely pursue legal liability through all legal means, including platform complaints, civil lawsuits, and criminal reports, to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of our users and the company." (Caixin)

OpenAI Officially Releases GPT-5

On Thursday local time, OpenAI announced the launch of its most advanced artificial intelligence model to date, GPT-5, which will power the company's next-generation ChatGPT. It is understood that GPT-5 is OpenAI's first "unified" artificial intelligence model, which combines the reasoning ability of the O series models with the fast response advantage of the GPT series. CEO Sam Altman said in a phone call with reporters on Wednesday that using this new technology "is really like having a conversation with a doctoral-level expert in a certain field." He particularly emphasized that the model enables anyone to create software applications with just simple English prompts - a process often referred to as "ambient programming" (Sina Technology, Yicai Global)

Big Companies/Big Events

Zara's Ads Banned Due to Extremely Thin Models

Recently, two advertisements of fashion brand Zara have been banned from airing in the UK because the models looked "unhealthily thin". The UK Advertising Standards Authority stated that one model appeared haggard due to the shadows on her body and a sleek pulled - back hairstyle, and in another photo, the model's pose and clothing showed her prominent collarbones. The local regulatory agency ruled that these "irresponsible" ads should not appear again in their current form.

Currently, Zara has removed these ads and stated that both models involved have medical certificates proving that they were in good physical condition when the photos were taken. (Sina Tech)

 

OpenAI to Give Each Employee a $1.5 Million Bonus to Fend Off Meta's Poaching with High Salaries

It is reported that OpenAI will offer each employee, including new hires, a $1.5 million bonus over two years to withstand the poaching efforts of Meta under Mark Zuckerberg, which offers high salaries.

On August 7th, Yuchen Jin, the co-founder and CTO of Hyperbolic and a former executive at OctoAI, revealed this news on X. He wrote, "My friends at OpenAI are excited, not because it's the night before GPT - 5, but because Sam (Altman) just announced a $1.5 million bonus for each employee over two years." (Sohu Technology)

Intel Responds to Trump's Criticism, Says Committed to Promoting U.S. National and Economic Security

Intel said in a statement that the company, its board of directors, and CEO Pat Gelsinger are committed to promoting the national and economic security interests of the United States and are making investments in line with the president's "America First" agenda. "We look forward to continuing to work with the government," said Intel, which has been manufacturing in the United States for 56 years. The company will continue to invest billions of dollars in domestic semiconductor research, development, and manufacturing, including building a new wafer fab in Arizona. Previously, Trump said that the Intel CEO must resign. (Sina Finance)

A residential community in Shanghai requires food delivery riders to take a shuttle bus, causing excessive delays and discouraging riders from taking orders

"I won't come to this community again in the future." Recently, a video of a food delivery rider being delayed for a long time due to a Shanghai residential community requiring riders to take a shuttle bus has attracted attention. In the video, the rider tried to transfer the order by offering more money, but no other riders were willing to take it. Yicai Global learned from riders that the community is the Yinhai Park Century Community in Pudong, Shanghai. This situation has persisted for over seven years, and the delivery station has failed to resolve it after multiple communications with the community property management. Yicai Global contacted the property management of the Yinhai Park Century Community on August 7, but they refused to be interviewed. (Yicai Global)

Officially Confirmed: Waiver of Preschool Fees Covers All Senior Kindergarten Classes in Both Public and Private Kindergartens

On August 7th, the State Council Information Office held a regular press conference on State Council policies. Guo Tingting, the Deputy Minister of Finance, and relevant officials from the Ministry of Education introduced the situation regarding the gradual implementation of the policy of free preschool education and answered questions from journalists.

Guo Tingting stated that the national policy of waiving preschool education fees covers all children in senior kindergarten classes. It is estimated that about 12 million children will benefit from this policy in the upcoming autumn semester.

In terms of free items, the policy clearly waives preschool education fees. In terms of the duration of free education, it starts from the senior kindergarten class. To fully reflect the inclusiveness and fairness of the free policy, this policy of waiving preschool education fees covers all eligible children in senior kindergarten classes, including those in both public and private kindergartens, as well as those in urban and rural kindergartens. All children in senior kindergarten classes can enjoy the benefits of this policy. (The Paper, Red Star News)

Zhoukou Sixth People's Hospital Responds to the Incident of Doctor Shao in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department Jumping from a Building

In response to the incident of "Doctor Shao, the director of the obstetrics and gynecology department, jumping from a building", on the morning of August 7th, a relevant person in charge of Zhoukou Sixth People's Hospital, who was dealing with a medical dispute at the entrance, told The Paper that currently, she had received the news that the case had entered the judicial process and was under investigation. She introduced that it was Doctor Shao's family members who reported the case. She was not clear whether the family members had received the acceptance or case - filing notice. The person in charge also said that at 2:30 p.m. on the day when Doctor Shao had the accident, the hospital had a meeting with Doctor Shao and sent lawyer's letters to the parties involved in three medical disputes, asking them to safeguard their rights through reasonable and compliant channels.

Previously, the Zhoukou Health Commission reported that at 20:38 on August 1st, a jumping - from - a - building incident occurred at Zhoukou Sixth People's Hospital. After verification, the person who jumped from the building was Doctor Shao Moumou, a 57 - year - old female doctor in the obstetrics and gynecology department of the hospital. It was reported that Doctor Shao had endured online violence for more than seven months on three accounts before her death. The online violence stemmed from three medical disputes. (The Paper)

After the release of the child - rearing subsidy policy, multiple dairy enterprises jointly refuted rumors of milk powder price hikes

Recently, some netizens on certain social platforms claimed that after the country announced the child - rearing subsidy, the prices of products from multiple domestic and foreign infant milk powder brands had increased by 30 to 50 yuan per can, and called on people to boycott the brands that raised prices. This news sparked extensive discussions among netizens.

On August 6th and 7th, Yili Group, China Feihe, and Beingmate respectively responded to reporters from First Financial that they had not raised the prices of their infant milk powder products. Beingmate stated on the investor interaction platform that the prices of all products remained unchanged. Please do not believe or spread rumors.

Reporters compared the online sales prices of official stores of some leading domestic and foreign milk powder brands in the past 180 days through relevant price - querying apps and found that although the selling prices fluctuated, there was no overall upward trend. (First Financial)

WeChat's official account posts: There will be no "read" function

On August 7th, the official account "WeChat Moment" posted an article reiterating that WeChat has never had a "read" function since its inception and will not have one in the future. At noon on August 7th, Zhang Jun, the public relations director of Tencent, posted on social media, saying, "I hope this is the last time we talk about this."

Regarding the consideration of not implementing the "read" status in WeChat, Zhang Jun, the public relations director of Tencent, said in a podcast that WeChat should always give users the right to be laid - back. Because it has always emphasized that WeChat is a way of life rather than a way of work. If you need to work, you can use WeCom. (Sohu Technology)

Trump Gets New Role: Chair of the Special Task Force for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

On August 5th local time, US President Trump signed an executive order to establish a special task force for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The task force aims to coordinate the security and preparation work for the Olympics and streamline the visa application and credential issuance processes for athletes, coaches, the media, and other visitors to the United States. In this special task force, Trump will serve as the chair, and Vice President Vance will serve as the vice - chair. Other members include Secretary of State Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and Secretary of Defense Huckabee, etc. It is known that the Los Angeles Olympics will be held from July 14th to 30th, 2028. (CCTV News)

HEMA Denies Store Closures, Says Only 2% of Stores Undergo Business Adjustments, and Plans to Open 100 New Stores This Year

On August 7th, HEMA announced its latest store - opening plan: HEMA Fresh will maintain rapid expansion, aiming to open 100 new stores within the fiscal year. By then, the total number of HEMA stores will exceed 500.

In addition, HEMA refuted the recent "store - closure" rumors: Since last year, the company has adjusted some exploratory businesses and gradually closed 10 X - membership stores. These adjusted stores account for less than 2% of HEMA's total stores. Meanwhile, the main format, HEMA Fresh, continues to expand rapidly.

It is reported that HEMA has shifted its focus to two main formats, HEMA Fresh and community discount stores, and gradually exited exploratory projects such as X - membership stores. In the first half of this year, HEMA opened its first stores in multiple cities including Taizhou, Suzhou, Tianjin, Tangshan, and Suining. HEMA CEO Yan Xiaolei said that he is optimistic about the broad prospects of China's domestic consumption market and will adhere to the business philosophy of putting customers first. (Yicai Global, Jiemian News)

Japanese civil servants to receive the largest pay raise in 34 years

The National Personnel Authority of Japan recommended in a newly released announcement on August 7 that the average monthly basic salary of civil servants in the current fiscal year should be increased by 3.62% — the largest increase since 1991. Coupled with the already effective automatic pay raise, the total salary increase for civil servants this year will reach 5.1%. According to a government official, this adjustment will affect about 280,000 civil servants in Japan. This move is expected to further strengthen the virtuous cycle of wage and price growth that the Bank of Japan has long pursued, which is also a prerequisite for the bank to continue tightening its monetary policy. (Caixin)

Putin to Meet with Trump

On August 7 local time, Russian Presidential Aide Ushakov said that Russia is working with the United States to prepare for the specific arrangements of the meeting between the two heads of state. Ushakov said that the specific location of the meeting between Putin and Trump will be announced later. He said that the goal is to hold the meeting next week, but it's still difficult to determine how much time the preparatory work will take. In addition, Vitkov mentioned a meeting among the leaders of the United States, Russia and Ukraine, and the Russian side declined to comment. (CCTV News)

The third stock to initiate voluntary delisting within the year is about to emerge

*ST Tianmao has suspended trading since the opening of the market today due to its controlling shareholder, Xinliyi Group, planning significant matters related to the company. According to reporters' information, this significant matter is most likely that the company intends to apply for voluntary delisting. Before the suspension, *ST Tianmao's closing price was 1.45 yuan. Due to the failure to disclose the 2024 annual report and the first - quarter report of 2025 within the statutory time limit, *ST Tianmao resumed trading on July 8 and was subject to delisting risk warnings. According to the listing rules, if the 2024 annual report is still not disclosed within two months from the date of the delisting risk warning, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange will decide to terminate the company's stock trading.

Since the beginning of this year, Yulong Co., Ltd. and AVIC Industry - Finance Co., Ltd. have successively applied for voluntary delisting, both citing significant uncertainties in the company's operations as the reason. Their actual controllers are local state - owned assets and central enterprises respectively, while the actual controller of *ST Tianmao is Liu Yiqian. (Caixin Press)

Semaglutide Retains the Title of "World's Best-Selling Drug" in the Second Quarter

On August 6, reporters learned from Novo Nordisk that the company achieved sales revenue of 154.944 billion Danish kroner in the first six months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 16%; the net profit reached 55.537 billion Danish kroner. Among its star products, semaglutide achieved sales of 112.756 billion Danish kroner in the first half of the year. Among them, the sales of the hypoglycemic version of semaglutide injection (English trade name: Ozempic) were 64.52 billion Danish kroner, and the sales of the weight-loss version of semaglutide injection (Wegovy) were 36.888 billion Danish kroner. Converted into US dollars, semaglutide's sales in the first half of this year reached 17.5 billion US dollars. This also means that semaglutide's sales performance during the period exceeded that of pembrolizumab, the so-called "Keytruda", which is known as the "king of drugs". (Jiemian News)

Trump: The US will impose about 100% tariffs on chips and semiconductors

On August 6 local time, US President Donald Trump said that the United States will impose about 100% tariffs on chips and semiconductors. Trump said that if they are manufactured in the United States, no fees will be charged. He revealed this tariff plan when announcing a new $100 billion investment with Apple CEO Tim Cook in the Oval Office.

Trump told reporters, "We will impose high tariffs on chips and semiconductors, but for companies like Apple, the good news is that if you produce in the United States or have promised to produce in the United States, there is no doubt that you will not be subject to tariffs." (CCTV News)

LV to Close Its Only Chocolate Store in China

Recently, many netizens said that the chocolate specialty store opened by Louis Vuitton at Taikoo Li Qiantan in Shanghai will cease operations. The store officially opened in July 2024 and was Louis Vuitton's first and only chocolate specialty store in China. Louis Vuitton's customer service confirmed the news to Jiemian News, stating that August 10th was the last day of the store's operation. A source familiar with the brand and the mall's internal affairs revealed to Jiemian News that the store's closure was due to the normal expiration of the lease. Before the official opening of Louis Vuitton's boutique at Taikoo Li Qiantan, the space where this chocolate store was located was initially used as a pop - up space for selling shoes and clothing products. (Jiemian News)

Fast-fashion brand Forever 21 returns to the Chinese market again

Recently, consumers in Shanghai have noticed that the American fast-fashion brand Forever 21, which had exited the Chinese market, has been placing a large number of advertisements in the Shanghai subway recently. On June 13 this year, Authentic Brands Group (ABG), the brand owner of Forever 21, announced on its official WeChat account that the company had reached a cooperation with Shanghai Chengdi Trading Co., Ltd. to comprehensively upgrade Forever 21's business in the Chinese market and make a fresh start. On the same day, Forever 21 officially announced its entry into the Xiaohongshu platform. (Yicai Global)

Elon Musk Plans to Introduce Ads into Chatbots on Platform X

Elon Musk plans to introduce advertisements into the responses of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots on Platform X. He hopes to boost the declining advertising business of this social media platform with the help of AI technology. During a live conversation with advertisers on Platform X on Wednesday, Musk said that X would allow advertisers to display ads in the responses of the chatbot Grok. Grok was developed by xAI, an AI startup founded by Musk, and xAI acquired Platform X at a valuation of $45 billion in March this year.

The three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed, with Apple rising more than 3%

36Kr learned that at the close on August 7th, the three major U.S. stock indexes showed mixed performance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.51%, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.35%, and the S&P 500 Index fell 0.08%. Large technology stocks had mixed performances. Apple rose more than 3%, while NVIDIA, Tesla, Amazon, Google, and Netflix had slight increases; Meta fell more than 1%, and Microsoft and Arm had slight declines. Among popular Chinese concept stocks, more rose than fell. JD.com and "NIO, XPeng, Li Auto" rose more than 1%, and Baidu, Pinduoduo, Tencent Music, and Alibaba had slight increases; Bilibili fell more than 1%, and iQiyi and NetEase had slight declines.

Wild boar meat in "Avatar color" discovered in California, USA; the meat turns bright blue when cut, and local authorities issue a warning not to eat it

Recently, wild boar meat with bright blue tissue was discovered in Monterey County, California. Reports say that a wildlife control company captured hundreds of wild boars for a client. However, when they cut open one of the wild boars, they found that the meat inside was blue, which greatly surprised the company's staff. Immediately, they reported this discovery to the officials of Monterey County, California, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement that these wild boars had come into contact with an anticoagulant rodenticide - Diphacinone. This poison is widely used by farmers and agricultural companies to control the populations of mice, squirrels, and other small animals. The agency's pesticide investigation coordinator said, "Hunters should be aware that if game animals such as wild boars, deer, bears, and geese have come into contact with rodenticides, their meat may be contaminated." The agency warned hunters to closely monitor potentially contaminated wildlife in the area and urged them not to eat the meat of any animals showing blue pigmentation and to report such discoveries to the officials. (Global Times)

The Cutting - Edge of AI

Microsoft Bing Image Creator Now Freely Integrates GPT-4o, Generate Images Right on Bing

On August 7th, according to foreign media Neowin, Microsoft announced that Bing Image Creator now freely integrates OpenAI's latest image generation model, GPT-4o. Earlier this year, OpenAI integrated the image generation function into GPT-4o, no longer relying on independent models like DALL-E. The GPT-4o model performs better in understanding user prompts and restoring textual content, thanks to its vast knowledge base and context understanding ability. Users can not only use it to modify uploaded images but also generate new visual content based on these images as creative inspiration. Since the images generated by this model are more detailed, the image generation speed is slightly slower compared to DALL-E 3. (IT Home)

The world's first 4S store for embodied intelligent robots will open on August 8

The world's first 4S store for embodied intelligent robots, Robot Mall, will officially open on August 8. Similar to a 4S store for cars, this robot 4S store integrates functions such as robot "Sales", "Spare parts supply", "After-sales service", and "Information feedback". Located in the Beijing Robot Industrial Park (Yizhuang), this 4S store currently operates within the existing space of the Robot World. It has four floors, covering an area of 4,000 square meters, and features more than 50 robot products from over 40 manufacturers across the country, including top - notch humanoid robot products such as the "Tianggong" of the Beijing Humanoid Robot Innovation Center, Ubtech Walker S, and Unitree G1. (Yicai Global)

Elon Musk: The Grok Imagine video generation feature will be free for all US users in the next few days

On August 7th, it was reported that Elon Musk stated that the Grok Imagine video generation feature will be free for all US users in the next few days. Users are welcome to download the Grok app and give it a try. Musk also said that the Grok Imagine video generation feature will be rapidly improved in the coming weeks and months. Additionally, a little earlier, Musk posted that the Grok Imagine video generation feature is now available on Android. (Jiemian News)

Financial Reports of Large Companies

SoftBank Group's net profit in the first quarter was 421.82 billion yen, with an estimate of 158.23 billion yen

On August 7th, SoftBank Group's net profit in the first quarter was 421.82 billion yen, with an estimate of 158.23 billion yen. The Vision Fund's investment income in the first quarter was 726.84 billion yen, and the Vision Fund's profit in the first quarter was 451.39 billion yen. (Caixin)

Sony Group's net profit in the first fiscal quarter was 259 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 23%

On August 7th, Sony Group released its financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025. In the first fiscal quarter, its revenue was 2.6216 trillion yen, a year-on-year increase of 2%; operating profit was 340 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 36%; and net profit reached 259 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 23%. (Jiemian News)

Toyota's net profit in the first fiscal quarter was 841.4 billion yen, down 37% year-on-year

On August 7, Toyota Motor Corporation released its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026 (April - June 2025): Sales reached 122.5 trillion yen, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%; Operating profit was 1.17 trillion yen, a year-on-year decrease of 11%; Net profit was 841.4 billion yen, a year-on-year decrease of 37%. In addition, Toyota announced a downward revision of its full-year performance forecast for fiscal year 2026. The operating profit forecast was lowered by 0.6 trillion yen to 3.2 trillion yen, and it is estimated that the impact of US tariff policies will reach 1.4 trillion yen, an increase of 1.2 trillion yen compared with the previous forecast. (Jiemian News)

Investment and Financing

"Artificial Productivity" Completes Seed Round Financing of Millions of Dollars

36Kr learned that the AI hardware company "Artificial Productivity" has completed a seed round financing of millions of dollars. The investors include Amoeba Capital, SenseTime Guoxiang Capital, and Fourth Paradigm Fund. Yuanhe Capital will serve as the exclusive financial advisor. "Artificial Productivity" was founded in 2024 by Tu Weiwei, the former chief scientist of Fourth Paradigm. The first - generation AI companion robot, the Panda Robot, has been delivered to the outside world. Its first mass - produced smart toy for children is planned to be launched next month.

“Lingxin Qiaoshou” Completes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Angel Round Financing

36Kr learned that “Lingxin Qiaoshou”, a company specializing in high - degree - of - freedom dexterous hands, has completed hundreds of millions of yuan in angel round financing. This round of financing was led by Ant Group, with follow - on investments from CICC Capital, Shoufa Zhan Venture Capital, Shanghai Semiconductor Equipment Fund, Chengkai Fund, DT Capital, and Keke Capital. The existing shareholder, Sequoia China Seed Fund, continued to increase its investment. The funds from this round of financing will be used to enhance the company's technology reserves and build an embodied intelligence data collection field, accelerating the actual process of the dexterous hands' implementation and application.

Embodied AI startup "Vita Dynamics" completes angel round financing

36Kr learned that on August 7th, Vita Dynamics held a technology communication meeting. At the meeting, founder Yu Yinan stated that the company has completed its angel round of financing, with the investors being Fortune Capital, Legend Capital, and Yingke Capital. Vita Dynamics is a consumer-grade embodied AI company. Yu Yinan, the founder and CEO, was the former vice president of Horizon Robotics. The company completed a seed round of financing of 200 million yuan in March this year. It is understood that its first intelligent companion robot will be launched by the end of the year.

Cool Products

Google's Android Action Corners Feature Exposed: Specific Actions Can Be Triggered at Screen Corners

On August 7th, tech media Android Authority published a blog post on August 6th, reporting that Google is developing an "Action Corners" feature for the Android system, similar to the "Hot Corners" feature of Apple's macOS system. Users may trigger specific actions by moving the cursor to one of the four corners of the screen. It is reported that Apple's official "Hot Corners" allow users to use the screen corners as trigger points to quickly start operations when moving the pointer to the corners. For example, users can set the screen saver to start when moving the pointer to the upper - left corner of the screen, or lock the screen when moving the pointer to the upper - right corner. (IT Home)

 

Official Cases for Apple iPhone 17 Pro Series Leaked, Featuring Lanyard Holes

On August 7th, two sources posted tweets on the X platform on August 6th, revealing that Apple will adjust the official cases for the iPhone 17 Pro series by adding two lanyard holes at the bottom. First, "duanrui1205" posted a tweet on the X platform on August 6th, stating, "The official cases for the iPhone 17 Pro series will have two new lanyard holes at the bottom." Another source, "MajinBuOfficial," shared cases suitable for the iPhone 17 series on its blog on August 6th. Two openings for attaching a lanyard can be seen on the side. (IT Home)

 

Compilation | Xiaoguo