When it comes to artificial intelligence in China, analysts more connected to the country complain that the issue is almost always accompanied by comparisons with the United States, presented as a benchmark.
“It is unfortunate to frame Chinese AI only in competition with the US,” says Jen Zhu, a partner at IN. Capital, from Hong Kong. “The ecosystems of the US and China are very different, so they have their pros and cons. China is unparalleled in terms of scale, finding product-market fit, and making products accessible.
” In practice, it wouldn’t be behind anyone.The e-commerce streaming site JD.com during the debut of the ‘sales manager Brother Dong’ avatar by its founder, Qiangdong Liu, on April 16, 2024, using the ChatRhino artificial intelligence model developed by the Chinese company itself.
DisclosureAccording to Kyle Chan, from the High Capacity newsletter, “China seeks to leverage AI for its broader goals of technical and scientific progress and to develop its capabilities in advanced production.
“It is part, he adds, of a “Chinese trend towards heavy technology sectors, such as electric cars, drones, and machine tools.
“Technology analyst TP Huang says, “It is important to distinguish the type of AI,” pointing out that China is ahead in most aspects, “for example, Bytedance uses AI to accelerate TikTok.
“He also sees the country leading in autonomous driving, robots, factories, and smart mining. “Generative AI is a small part in which American companies jumped first and, therefore, are a year ahead.
“Paul Triolo, who leads the China and technology areas at the consulting firm ASG, in Washington, and was recently in the country, also sees these applications by large companies as the Chinese “killer” counterattack, incorporating AI into products and services already offered, starting with smartphones.
Electric cars, which Zhu calls tablets on wheels, are another highly cited example at the moment. Their applications, from a smaller and localized AI model, serve as a counterpoint to the “centralized approach” of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and other American companies.
These bring innovations resulting in part from the US’s own trade barriers, which limited Chinese access to Nvidia’s GPUs. GPU stands for Graphics Processing Unit, an image processor formerly used mainly for gaming, now crucial for the machine learning of artificial intelligence.
Zhu evaluates that the smaller and localized AI models from Chinese companies are the best way out even for American competitors of OpenAI’s LLM (large language model) ChatGPT. It is also a good option for China’s partners in emerging markets, including Brazil.
“At this very moment, many Chinese AI companies are targeting developing markets that previously did not have quick access to the most advanced technological products,” she says.”The Chinese AI sector bringing its products to the Global South is a good thing,” she argues.
“Chinese and US AI are actually complementary in many aspects if people can see AI development as human development as a whole, rather than geopolitical and nationalist.
“Zhu acknowledges that “China is lagging behind due to GPU restrictions, limiting its ability to create and train LLMs effectively.” But she says that the SLM (small language model) used in Chinese cell phones, cars, and other “powerful and affordable products will make localized AI applications popular.
“Moreover, Huawei is casting an increasingly larger shadow over Nvidia’s GPUs. Jensen Huang’s company itself said in a report to shareholders three months ago that the Chinese giant had become a “major competitor” in GPUs and other AI chips.
Chinese LLM companies like Baidu are dropping the H20 chip, the best product that the US government allowed Nvidia to offer in the Chinese market, for the Huawei Ascend 910B.
Following a common trend in China, Nvidia started cutting prices to compete.An executive from the Ascend unit said last Thursday (6) at a conference in Nanjing that the 910B already surpasses Nvidia’s main chip, the A100, in some tests, banned in China by the US.
Photo of Huawei’s research and development center in the Qingpu district of Shanghai, China – DisclosureAnd Huawei will open in the coming weeks in Shanghai what local authorities describe as “the world’s largest research and development center.”
