Title: Chinese Tech Investor Cautious About Chinese Language Models Following ChatGPT’s Success
Chinese billionaire investor, Xia Zuoquan, famous for his early bet on electric vehicle manufacturer BYD, expresses skepticism about China’s ability to develop groundbreaking technologies comparable to OpenAI’s ChatGPT in the near future. Despite his success with BYD, Xia points out that China lacks the necessary fundamental research and a mature capital market, hindering its progress in technological breakthroughs.
During an industry forum organized by the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance in Hong Kong, Xia stated that China is still considerably behind in several essential areas. He cited America’s dominance in foundational algorithms, chips, and key industrial software and hardware, emphasizing the reliance on American technology. This, in turn, raises doubts about China’s sudden production of ChatGPT-level applications or technologies.
Xia, who currently runs his own technology investment firm called Zhengxuan Investment, focuses on hi-tech fields such as advanced manufacturing, AI, robotics, new energy, and semiconductors. However, even with his extensive experience, Xia remains cautious when it comes to investing in Chinese start-ups working on large language models (LLMs), which underpin ChatGPT-like services.
The Chinese start-ups hoping to compete in the generative AI space face additional challenges due to an underdeveloped capital market in the country. Most investment institutions and government-backed funds in China hesitate to invest billions of dollars or wait more than a decade for these companies to succeed. Consequently, Xia believes that it is unlikely for very fundamentally innovative AI technologies to emerge from China in the short term, leading to their lack of optimism in investing in ChatGPT-like services.
Xia’s concerns align with those expressed by Zhou Hongyi, founder and chairman of Chinese cybersecurity firm 360 Security Technology, who recently warned against full adoption of LLMs within government bodies and enterprises due to their unreliability.
Despite the doubts expressed by Xia and Zhou, generative AI still attracts significant investment interest in China. According to a report by Chinese AI-focused research firm Zhidongxi, the highest number of start-ups in the generative AI industry received funding in China during the first half of this year. Out of the 51 generative AI start-ups globally, 22 were based in China, while the US had 21.
Meanwhile, Lee Kai-fu, a prominent venture capitalist and former president of Google China, recently launched Lingyi Wanwu, a venture focused on developing its own LLM. Lee emphasizes that LLMs present a historical opportunity that China cannot afford to miss. However, he also acknowledges the risks associated with relying solely on open-source models built by foreign companies, such as high fees and restricted access.
While China’s AI market continues to attract prominent figures and investment, the concerns raised by Xia Zuoquan and Zhou Hongyi highlight the challenges the country faces in achieving major technological breakthroughs in the field of generative AI. As the race intensifies, China must confront these obstacles and strategize ways to develop its own cutting-edge technologies.
Note: The above article is a generated AI version and may not accurately represent the views of the individuals mentioned.
