A Beijing bar is turning China’s AI boom into a social experience, offering customers free DeepSeek tokens alongside drinks and positioning itself as a meeting point for developers, investors and students.
Located in the Zhongguancun technology district, AGI Bar was opened last year by independent AI developer Song De. The venue regularly hosts developer seminars, open-source AI events and gatherings involving researchers from major Chinese universities and technology companies.
Its signature drink, also called AGI, costs just 9.9 yuan ($1.50), while customers can connect to the bar’s AI system through WiFi and access DeepSeek-powered coding tools running on two Nvidia DGX Spark computers.
Song has also automated much of the venue’s reservations, inventory, utilities and membership operations through AI agents. He plans to expand the Beijing location and eventually introduce humanoid robots to serve drinks.
The concept reflects how deeply artificial intelligence is spreading into Chinese consumer culture, education and business. However, the experimental model has yet to become profitable, with Song admitting that the bar currently gives away far more drinks than it sells.
