Chinese Tech Giants Rally Behind AI Sector Amid U.S. Sanctions

At the World AI Conference in Shanghai, over 150 AI-related products and solutions were exhibited by Chinese tech companies, alongside a few foreign firms like Tesla and Qualcomm.

Companies used the conference as a platform to unveil their latest AI products. SenseTime introduced SenseNova 5.5, a large language model (LLM) positioned as a competitor to OpenAI’s GPT-4, particularly in mathematical reasoning.

Resilience Amid Sanctions:

Despite U.S. sanctions limiting access to advanced chips, Chinese executives expressed optimism about the future of China’s AI sector. Huawei’s cloud computing head, Zhang Ping’an, emphasized the need to discard the notion that lacking the most advanced AI chips will hinder China’s AI leadership.

Zhang advocated for innovation in cloud computing to address the limited access to cutting-edge chips. Liu Qingfeng, chairman of Iflytek, echoed this sentiment, noting that Chinese LLMs, including Iflytek’s, rival global standards like OpenAI’s GPT-4.

Focus on Independent Development:

Liu highlighted the importance of developing independent LLMs to benchmark against the highest global standards and continuously narrow the gap.

Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, urged the industry to prioritize the practical application of AI over the development of foundational models that require significant computing power and AI chips. He stressed that applications are crucial for the value of AI models.