AI Builds Full App: Is MiniMax M3 Better Than GPT-4?

Summary

Imagine an AI that can build an entire web application from scratch, and not just a simple one, but a complex project. In a test using Claude Code and its Code Router, the MiniMax M3 AI was tasked with setting up a Next.js project with Convex and Clerk for authentication. The process involved configuring Clerk for JWT, adding a users table to the Convex database, and setting up a webhook to insert new users on signup. The AI successfully protected a dashboard route, ensuring only signed-in users could access it, and created a basic homepage with sign-up and sign-in options. The presenter noted that most Chinese AI models struggle with such integrated tasks, but MiniMax M3's approach of planning and using sub-agents was comparable to top-tier models like GPT-4. The cost efficiency was also highlighted, with the entire project build costing under twenty-five cents. A further test involved adding a thumbnail generator to the dashboard, where users could provide a prompt and reference images. The AI successfully implemented a drag-and-drop file uploader and generated a thumbnail, demonstrating its capability to build functional features quickly and at a low cost, completing the entire project in under twenty-five minutes.