Hello and welcome to Eye on AI…In this edition: Is China about to win the AI race?…AI reasoning risks...Anthropic is on track to turn a profit years ahead of OpenAI…and OpenAI’s flip-flop on a government “backstop.”
Hello, Beatrice Nolan here, filling in for Jeremy Kahn. The AI industry has been mulling a key question recently: Is China pulling ahead in the AI race?
The country has demonstrated a capacity to execute large-scale projects with speed and coordination, thanks in part to the government’s very active role in the economy. And, as Huang highlighted in his comments last week, subsidized electricity and streamlined regulatory processes make it substantially easier for companies to operate power-hungry AI facilities in China. By contrast, U.S. firms face a fragmented regulatory landscape and comparatively higher energy costs, which could hinder the rapid scaling of AI infrastructure.
China-based companies like DeepSeek have also shown they are masters at optimizing processes. For example, with DeepSeek’s R1, the company proved that while it may not invent the first version of something, it is capable of producing it faster and cheaper, without sacrificing performance.
Does China already have the AI race in the bag? Probably not just yet. But its AI companies are certainly well placed to make a strong play.
With that, here’s more AI news.
