At first glance, the following statements may seem like they come from the harshest critics of China’s technological innovations:
“We often say that the gap between China and the United States in AI is one or two years. But the real gap between the U.S. and China AI is creativity and imitation. China will be a follower forever if this doesn’t change.”
“In the past 30 years, China has essentially not produced any innovation in the tide of IT development, merely following along as a free rider, without contributing to any real technological innovation.”
“Chinese companies are accustomed to taking other (foreign) companies’ innovation, developing applications based on those, and making a fortune from it. But this should not be taken for granted.”
“We have been used to waiting for Moore’s Law to come down from the sky, and then, boom, 18 months later, we have better hardware and software to use. Now, in China, the same is happening with scaling laws.”
But surprisingly, these words come from Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek, a Chinese AI start-up that recently shocked the global AI community, particularly in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street.
DeepSeek’s success marks a significant boost for China’s AI innovation. It shows that even in the face of US chip restrictions, Chinese companies can adopt innovative solutions to drive cost-effective development. Their work challenges the notion that China will always be a follower in AI innovation.
Taken from an exclusive interview with Liang conducted by 36Kr, a Chinese media platform, in summer 2024 — when DeepSeek released its V2 model — these quotations strike at the heart of long-standing issues in China’s technological innovation system and the way that many Chinese companies approach business.
So, what makes Mr. Liang, a seemingly “nouveau riche” player in China’s AI industry, so undiplomatically frank in his criticism? What sets DeepSeek apart from other AI giants and start-ups in China? Before answering these questions, we need to explore what DeepSeek has actually done to achieve its breakthroughs in AI innovation. What do DeepSeek’s innovations mean for the future of AI development?
