“The remarks amounted to Xi’s clearest articulation yet of China’s ambition to shape global AI governance, framing its open-source models as a global public good and positioning Beijing as an alternative to Washington at a pivotal moment in the race for technological leadership. Comparing AI’s significance to the invention of the steam engine and electricity, Xi outlined a vision in which China shares AI technology and expertise with countries across the Global South, while leading global efforts to create standards governing the emerging technology.”
China’s open-source AI is on a collision course with US Big Tech’s efforts. Big Tech’s bet is that the race to AGI is what really matters. Meanwhile, with AI, as it is with everything from cars to 21st-century energy infrastructure, China’s doing the work of building and supplying the most widely used tech.
Who knows when AGI will arrive, but prior to it Chinese AI looks likely to be the world’s most deployed and used ~ even in Western countries. Whether the Chinese stumbled on the strategy by accident, or it was deliberate all along, their use of open-source means US Big Tech’s offerings can’t compete. Unless they get to AGI first, then all bets are off.
This is poison for every American AI company’s business model. They want to have the best model that they can then cash in with. Chinese just provide the world with models that are as good, better or good enough, but always for the fraction of the price.
