Shanghai recently hosted the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, China’s largest AI conference.
According to a new survey, Chinese business leaders are significantly ahead of their global counterparts in adopting generative AI (GenAI).
The survey found that more than 80% of Chinese business leaders surveyed are currently using GenAI in their operations, compared to a global average of 54% and a US average of 65%.
“China has not only made significant progress in the practical aspects of orchestrating AI into its existing systems and processes, but also in building trust by preparing for GenAI regulation,” the report said.
China is betting on generative AI to better manage its “massive population” and the data it collects. “Pioneering generative AI could give China a global competitive advantage in unlocking value and data,” the report said.
Still, safety concerns such as hallucinations, deepfakes, and data privacy are prompting governments to quickly enact rules for the new technology.
According to the survey, about 70% of business leaders in the Asia-Pacific region feel “fully” or “moderately prepared” to comply with upcoming generative AI regulations. In North America, the figure is only 59%, and in Northern Europe, it is 52%.
Last year, Beijing issued some of the world’s first rules for generative AI. The rules required chatbots to “uphold core socialist values” and protect national security. However, the penalties were not as harsh as some observers had feared, which analysts interpreted as a sign of Beijing’s support for the young industry.
In October 2023, the Biden administration issued an executive order that, among other things, required AI developers to share data from safety tests with the US government. Then, in early 2024, the European Union passed its own comprehensive set of AI regulations, known as the AI Act.
Still, it can be difficult for AI companies to navigate the patchwork of different AI regulations. “It’s good to have regulation. Three different ones is just not good. That’s inefficient.”
Since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in 2022, major and minor Chinese tech companies have been rushing to develop their own large language models and generative AI programs.
Big tech companies like Baidu, Alibaba, and JD.com are investing in their own large language models. Baidu claims that its ERNIE LLM outperforms the latest version of GPT-4 on some Chinese-language tasks. Several Chinese startups – such as 01.AI, founded by former Google China President Kai-Fu Lee – are also racing to release chatbots and other generative AI products.
However, China’s AI companies are also struggling with a shortage of AI chips, which has been exacerbated by US controls that ban the export of high-end processors (such as those made by Nvidia) to China. Startups are reportedly restricting the use of their products due to a lack of computing power.
On July 8, 2024, iFlyTek – one of China’s leading AI developers – announced that it expects to net a loss of up to $64.53 million in the first half of the year. In a filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the company blamed this partly on “ultimate pressure from the US.” Shares fell 5.4% from their Friday close.
“All countries are seeking information advantages through AI,” from national security to commercial applications. “Generative AI is becoming the new nuclear arms race in this regard.”
Still, Chinese companies have some advantages. For example, they are said to be “more aggressive” than their US counterparts in combining and applying data to AI models.
Chinese companies like Alibaba are optimistic that they can still catch up to their US counterparts like OpenAI, despite the lack of cutting-edge GPUs. “The cool thing about this whole movement is that innovation is happening almost simultaneously around the world. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”