Dinner table conversations were mainly about DeepSeek and other AI chatbots. Electric vehicles were driving on the roads, and food ordering apps provided drone delivery services. Humanoid robots from Unitree Technology danced and twirled handkerchiefs on stage during China's most-watched Spring Festival Gala, making the company famous overnight.
This is the country we are facing. In many technological fields, especially at the forefront of AI technology, China is either on par with or surpassing the United States. China has formed a real advantage in technology dissemination, commercialization, and manufacturing technology. History tells us: whoever adopts and applies a technology fastest will win.
Therefore, it is not surprising that China has strongly retaliated against America's recent tariff measures. To win the future technology race and thus the competition for global leadership, we must abandon the belief that America will always lead.
The stakes of this competition are high. Leading American companies have been developing proprietary AI models and charging access fees partly because their models require hundreds of millions of dollars to train. Chinese AI companies have expanded their influence by freely releasing models for public use, download, and modification, making it easier for researchers and developers worldwide to access these models.
China's e-commerce and social platform applications have ranked among the most downloaded globally, and with the continued popularity of China's free open-source AI models, it's not hard to imagine that teenagers around the world will be obsessed with Chinese apps and AI companions, while Chinese-made robots manage our lives, and companies provide services and products driven by Chinese models.
In just over a decade, China has transformed from a "copycat nation" into a dominant force with world-class products, sometimes even surpassing Western products. Last year, Xiaomi delivered 135,000 electric vehicles, while Apple abandoned its efforts to produce electric vehicles after spending $10 billion over ten years. China is currently applying robots on a large scale and has plans to mass-produce humanoid robots. In 2023, the number of industrial robots installed in the country exceeded the total of all other countries combined. During this process, the country has also cultivated a large number of talents in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, developed a strong supply chain, incredible manufacturing capabilities, and a competitive domestic ecosystem.
The future dominated by China has arrived. We should learn from what China does well.
Meanwhile, China is still desperately catching up in the semiconductor sector. The U.S. has imposed export controls on cutting-edge chips to curb China's AI progress. However, China's recent breakthroughs show that such sanctions have instead spurred Chinese entrepreneurs to continue training and commercializing AI models.
This is a hard-to-accept fact. Despite various restrictions, China's technology has become better because Chinese entrepreneurs have found creative ways to do more with less money.
We are no longer in an era when China was far behind us. If China's innovation capability can continue, if China's AI companies maintain openness, and if China can continue the current trend to occupy more than 45% of global manufacturing shares before 2030, then the next chapter of the AI race will be a full-scale melee. (Translated by Wang Qun)
On April 23, in the Hao Linju Fresh Food Logistics Center in Fancheng District, Xiangyang City, an intelligent transport robot was transporting goods. (Xinhua News Agency)
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7501523049738387968/
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