by NILESH JASANI
China’s developers turning US sanctions, regulatory restrictions and resource constraints into less-noticed AI innovations
This trend is not new, but a surge in announcements over the last few weeks reconfirms how the Chinese models are not only keeping pace with the rest but also reshaping the dynamics of artificial intelligence innovation locally and, in some sense, providing new ideas globally.
While the Western world often basks in the glory of considerable AI advancements, there is also a rapidly unfolding revolution in China—one driven by both ingenuity and necessity.
Let’s list the announcements of the last few weeks to get a measure of the pace:
| Company | Model/ Product | Date Announced | Key Features | Significance |
| Alibaba Cloud | Qwen-72B | Early Nov 2024 | 72B parameters- Open-source- Multilingual- Advanced MoE- State-of-the-art reasoning performance | Reinforces Alibaba’s lead in the LLM space; offers a powerful open-source alternative |
| Tencent | HunYuan Video | Nov 28, 2024 | 13B parameters- Text-to-video generation- Contrastive Video-Language Alignment (CVLA)- Open-source | A significant step forward in video generation capabilities, democratizing access through open source |
| Baidu | iRAG | Nov 12, 2024 | Text-to-image generation- Minimizes hallucinations using search capabilities | Enhances the accuracy of AI-generated imagery |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek-R1-Lite-Preview | Nov 20, 2024 | Reasoning-focused model- “Chain-of-thought” reasoning- Matches Western models’ performance | Demonstrates a strong focus on reasoning, efficiency, and keeping up with global standards |
| Bytedance | Doubao | Ongoing | Doubao-PixelDance and Doubao-Seaweed for video generation- Potential integration with TikTok | Emphasizes Bytedance’s expertise in marrying LLMs with content creation on social media |
| JD.com | ChatJD | Sept 2024 | E-commerce optimization- Multimodal support- Sector-specific applications | Drives e-commerce innovation through LLMs focused on consumer needs |
China’s unrecognized innovation trail
Chinese models have been in lockstep with the West’s for some time, if not right from the start.
Its journey has involved numerous groundbreaking contributions recognized globally much later after becoming a part of more famous Western modelers’ toolkits. Their approach to AI has consistently been about finding new pathways prioritizing efficiency, scalability and practicality.
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