Microsoft Executive: "Chinese AI is surpassing American companies in regions outside the West!"

On February 9, South Korean media "Seoul Economic Daily" published an article stating that Microsoft said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) companies are surpassing American companies in regions outside the West by using a low-cost open-source model.

Recently, Microsoft President Brad Smith said in an interview: "The technology of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is rapidly spreading in emerging markets such as Africa. This indicates that American companies face fierce competition globally. Unlike a year ago, China now has many competitive open-source models, and the number is increasing. These models pose great pressure on American companies in terms of price."

Microsoft's research based on data analysis of its own product usage also supports these views. DeepSeek's influence in the AI market in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe has risen rapidly, occupying 18% and 17% market shares respectively. Particularly noteworthy is that in three countries under U.S. sanctions, which have difficulty accessing Western technology - Belarus (56%), Cuba (49%) and Russia (43%), DeepSeek almost completely dominates the market.

This gap stems from the entirely different AI application strategies between the United States and China. U.S. tech giants such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic have always controlled their own technologies and focused on generating profits through subscription models; while China emphasizes an open model to lower the entry barriers, allowing developers to freely use, modify, and integrate their technologies.

The Financial Times analysis points out that DeepSeek's "large language model" (LLM) R1 version released last year accelerated the adoption of AI in Global South countries due to its ease of use and low cost.

Smith expressed concern about AI applications being concentrated in developed countries, leading to an increasing North-South gap. Microsoft's research shows that, for the fourth quarter of last year, 24% of countries in the Global North used AI, while only 14% in the Global South. This is below the global average (16%). Smith emphasized: "If the issue of the growing AI gap is not resolved, the economic gap between the North and the South may continue to exist and further widen. This is the key battlefield of the Sino-U.S. competition."

Original: toutiao.com/article/1856648715169801/

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