China’s AI: Deeper than DeepSeek?

CGTN Europe

China’s DeepSeek shocked the world with its high-powered AI assistant. But the country’s AI sector goes beyond one company - in fact, analysts say it has over 4,000 businesses. So, how does the industry work?  #ai #china #deepseek

Transcript

00:00China's AI sector is like a brain.

00:03It's learning, developing, and producing results,

00:07sometimes in the blink of an eye.

00:09We saw that with DeepSeek,

00:11the AI assistant that came out last month.

00:14But Chinese AI is deeper than DeepSeek.

00:18The industry has different parts that do different things,

00:22but they're also connected in all sorts of ways,

00:25just like a brain.

00:27The sector now has roughly 4,500 businesses.

00:32Some are big names, and they're doing big things.

00:35Tech giant Baidu looks set to release

00:37a new AI model later this year.

00:40It's also shaking things up with its chatbot, Ernie.

00:44The bot had 13 million active users in January.

00:47That's about a third of DeepSeek's user base.

00:50But last June, it was China's most used app

00:53for generative AI.

00:54Baidu is now hoping to drive growth

00:56by offering the bot for free in April.

01:00And speaking of driving,

01:01it's also building AI into its Apollo Go service,

01:05which provides robo-taxis that drive themselves.

01:09Meanwhile, e-commerce firm Alibaba is teaming up with Apple.

01:13That deal means Alibaba will provide AI services

01:16for Apple iPhones sold in China.

01:19But the big brands are also helping smaller companies.

01:22Baidu's platform, for example,

01:24offered more than 50 models or templates

01:26at the end of last year.

01:28It also has tool chain software

01:31that allows developers to tailor each model

01:33for specific tasks.

01:35This is known as MOS, or model as a service.

01:40It's a system designed to remove barriers.

01:42In other words, developers don't spend time

01:45and money building models from scratch.

01:48Some firms are offering prepackaged AI solutions,

01:52as well as cloud computing.

01:54Huawei is one example.

01:56It says it's slashed the time it takes

01:58to make systems that train AI models.

02:01So a project that used to take five months

02:04now takes just one.

02:07And that's important,

02:08because AI tools don't generate revenue during training.

02:12The faster they can learn, the better.

02:15And let's not forget the stakes are high.

02:17Research firm McKinsey says by 2030,

02:20China's AI sector could add $600 billion

02:24to its economy each year.

02:26So there is massive potential.

02:29And it all starts with brain power.

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