OpenAI, a research organization focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI), has been facing stiff competition from within China. Companies in the region such as Alibaba, Tencent, Bytedance, Baidu, and SenseTime have been developing more advanced language models, materializing the battleground for the AI market. According to an analyst from Berstein, the “Big Five” Chinese tech giants are competing for OpenAI’s title of AI supremacy.
However, the two countries, China and the US, have different strategies when it comes to implementing AI technology. Tencent has been leveraging their gaming and entertainment prowess to create their chatbot, HunyaunAide. Alibaba, on the other hand, is using its e-commerce strength to launch Tongyi Qianwen, which integrates with its enterprise tools. Bytedance is utilizing their massive data set of users to fuel their AI tools, while Baidu is taking the route of search engine and internet services. SenseTime is beating the competition by making use of their priceless AI data center and allowing customers to develop customized models.
Analysts have made it clear that “winner-take-all” scenarios are not likely to be seen in the near future as the competition heats up and the Chinese tech giants take their strategies to the next level. Companies have the challenge to make sure their strategies have paths towards monetization and returns on investments, given that AI technology requires plenty of resources to develop better AI. Moreover, AI developers will have to take note of important regulations and restrictions from the Chinese government over what sort of content and messaging can be generated.
Robin Zhu, the Bernstein senior analyst mentioned in the original article, says that “investors looking to generate a financial return from the evolution of this technology, we’d argue that commercial success will require contenders to possess a variety of capabilities”. This could be a helpful word of advice for companies and investors which are yet to join the AI game.
The “Big Five” companies leading China’s AI race are Tencent, Alibaba, Bytedance, Baidu, and SenseTime. Tencent, the leading digital services provider, jumped into the AI field by introducing HunyuanAide. The e-commerce behemoth Alibaba came up with Tongyi Qianwen, which integrates the company’s workplace tools, with price comparisons becoming increasingly important features. Bytedance, the mogul in short video user-generated content, has plenty of data to power their AI tools. Although their productivity suite has been struggling, the company has been consistently developing its algorithms. On the other hand, internet services company Baidu released their chatbot Ernie in March and has been refining its search functions and volume ever since. SenseTime, an AI software company, has come up with a range of products that directly compete with OpenAI, like their SenseChat chatbot, image generator, and developer tools.
So, in spite of its tough competition from within China, OpenAI is still standing its ground and its “Big Five” contenders could benefit from its cutting-edge technology in their own large language models. While the competition for AI supremacy is still on, the “Big Five” Chinese tech giants must look out for opposite of a “winner-take-all” scenario and tread the path carefully.
