cross-posted from: https://futurology.today/post/5555646

If you tend towards conspiracy theory-type thinking, you might wonder if the Chinese government is directing its AI sector to use open-source AI to undermine US AI efforts. If they aren’t, is it just a coincidence that this is what is happening?

Two things seem inevitable to me if the trend of Chinese open-source AI equalling Western efforts keeps up. A) - It will eventually bankrupt the Western AI companies and their investors, as the hundreds of billions poured into them will never be realized in profits. B) The 21st century will be built on Chinese AI, as it will be what most of the world uses.

The former seems more dramatic in the short term, but the latter is what will be more significant in the long term.

Moonshot AI just released Kimi K2: China is not so behind in Agentic AI either it would seem.

  • Riskable@programming.devEnglish
    0·
    2 days ago

    The US is not “openly bankrolling” any AI companies. The closest thing would be OpenAI’s recent contract with the military:

    https://www.theverge.com/news/688041/openai-us-defense-department-200-million-contract

    Whereas China is definitely funding AI efforts in their country because they’re communist (sort of). That’s literally how communism works: The government funds stuff.

    China isn’t really communist in the traditional sense but they definitely use government funds to prop up business they feel will give the country a strategic advantage. They do this directly (here’s a check to pay people) and indirectly (we’ll subsidize all shipping for your business and make sure you get sweetheart deals with other businesses you rely on).

    The Chinese government is in the business of picking winners and losers in the market and they’re open about it. It’s not a secret. That’s literally how their government is setup.

    The US has ways of picking winners but they’re not nearly as direct and there’s a whole lot of rules that must be followed or competitors will sue and win. Then the whole process falls apart.

    TL;DR: You’re directly wrong and you’re framing the story wrong as well.

    Aside: If OpenAI goes bankrupt after wasting billions of rich investor dollars the citizens of the US will not have lost billions as a result. Whereas in China…