German think tank expert: China is becoming a pioneer in open-source artificial intelligence! Germany, however, is falling behind...
Recently, I had the good fortune to exchange views with Stephan Ossenkopp, senior researcher at the Schiller Institute in Germany. He pays close attention to the progress of China's artificial intelligence and mentioned during our conversation Alibaba's newly released Qwen3, the latest generation of open-source models, which has already topped the list as the world's strongest open-source model.
In his view, this is a landmark event: "The success of Qwen3 marks China's emergence as a pioneer in open-source artificial intelligence. By balancing performance and openness, China is reshaping the global AI landscape."
Of course, he also believes that China cannot afford to be complacent; some breakthroughs in artificial intelligence still mainly come from the United States. If China wants to maintain continuous leadership, it needs to invest more in basic research.
I also asked him an interesting question about how he sees Germany, an old industrial nation, lagging behind in this round of global AI competition. Mr. Stephan frankly said that Germany does not have the scale advantage enjoyed by China and the U.S.: massive funds, vast amounts of data, and a complete ecosystem. Germany is constrained by its small market size, leading to a relatively slower development pace. However, his view is that Germany should continue to maintain certain advantages in industrial AI in the future.
In addition, he commented on the fact that China and the U.S. are taking two different paths in AI development. The U.S. mostly focuses on closed-source models, which facilitates commercial control; whereas China promotes open-source initiatives, democratizing artificial intelligence for global developers. This helps reduce costs and promote innovation in emerging markets.
The future of artificial intelligence will depend on finding a balance between openness and security, innovation and ethics. Competitiveness will be determined by practical applications, depth of innovation, and ecosystem maturity. China is rapidly catching up.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1830797128602624/
Disclaimer: The article solely represents the author's personal views.