【By Observer Net, Qi Qian】

In early 2025, DeepSeek emerged and shocked the world.

One year later, the shadow of the West remains, and American media still feels a lingering fear when mentioning DeepSeek.

"DeepSeek is a warning: China is brewing the next surprise," wrote The Washington Post on January 30, reminding the U.S. government to act quickly, as China is in an absolute leading position in developing intelligent robots, drones, and autonomous systems.

In the article, Scott Singer and Pavlo Zvenykhordsky, researchers at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, pointed out that China's success in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) should not have been so surprising. Because of long-term, comprehensive policy efforts at the national level, Chinese laboratories were systematically catching up throughout 2024. Western observers just didn't take it seriously.

"The same pattern is repeating now," warned the two experts.

Chinese humanoid robots are entering the market, Xinhua News

The article states that China is clearly focusing on "embodied AI", which uses AI to perceive the environment, make autonomous decisions, and learn from physical interactions within hardware systems such as robots and drones, rather than simply executing pre-programmed instructions. Although not yet commercialized or widely deployed, such efforts may lead to early advantages, ultimately translating into significant economic and geopolitical benefits.

AI-driven robots are one of the top priorities for China's development. The Chinese government hopes to integrate embodied AI into core industries to enhance productivity.

The article believes that the long-term returns could be even greater. Embodied AI can help China upgrade its military autonomous combat capabilities.

Additionally, China can use its existing manufacturing advantages to become the global leading production center for embodied AI systems. Unlike 5G networks or solar panels, embodied AI may become the foundational technology for directly automating physical tasks across multiple global industries. This will make China the primary global supplier of intelligent robots and autonomous platforms, gaining powerful geopolitical leverage.

Some researchers believe that embodied AI is crucial for China's long-term pursuit of general artificial intelligence (AGI), allowing AI to learn by continuously interacting with the physical environment, surpassing the current training methods that rely on massive text data.

Currently, Chinese local governments are investing resources to support local embodied AI companies. At the same time, the private sector in China is also pushing the frontier. Several Chinese companies, such as AgiBot, UBTech, and Unitree, are already global leaders.

Data shows that in 2025, the shipment of humanoid robots in China has dominated the global market. Among them, AgiBot leads with about 5,100 units (39%), Unitree with about 4,200 units (32%), and UBTech with about 1,000 units.

May 2025, CCTV hosted a robot fighting competition, screenshot

"Certainly, China faces challenges, such as restricted access to advanced AI chips and reliance on Western suppliers for high-end sensors," the article said. However, "underestimating China's ability to overcome early obstacles was the reason why the West was caught off guard by DeepSeek."

The two authors further pointed out that compared to this, the United States has shown strategic neglect in embodied AI, including concentrating resources on a few private companies and limited overall government AI policies and research ecosystems. They called on the United States to face China's AI policy direction and actual progress. This requires establishing more in-depth analysis capabilities of China's AI and spreading knowledge throughout the entire policy system.

The article suggests that Silicon Valley can mobilize talent and capital to bring embodied AI from the laboratory to mass markets. But this requires the government to play a key role in matching infrastructure. "Once a sense of urgency is formed, implementation must follow quickly."

The article points out that from batteries, solar manufacturing, to shipbuilding, the United States has repeatedly missed the industrial waves of China, until it was too late.

"DeepSeek is a warning," the authors reiterated in the conclusion. "If the United States does not learn from the lessons, the next 'surprise' from China will come soon." The article predicts that the new "surprise" will not be a chatbot, but rather China's robots reshaping the global economy.

This article is exclusive to Observer Net. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7601374897353048622/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author himself.