OpenAI Altman admits US barely ahead of China in AI race; remarks show anxiety among US tech giants: experts
AI Photo: VCG
OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman acknowledged that the US is barely ahead of China in the artificial intelligence (AI) race in a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday, Fox Business reported. Chinese experts said this comment reflects the anxiety felt by some US tech giants in the face of China's rapid advancements in AI and other technological sectors despite Washington's suppression and crackdown.
"It's very hard to say how far ahead we are, but I would say, not a huge amount of time," Altman said in response to Republican Senator Ted Cruz's question about whether the US is ahead of China in the AI race, according to Fox Business.
Altman said Chinese AI firm DeepSeek has done two impressive things: strong open-source model and consumer app that became more downloaded than ChatGPT, according to the video of the hearing on the website of US Senate Committee.
Altman's acknowledgment aligns with the current reality, as this hearing came after DeepSeek had further advanced its AI model over time after its impressive debut, and several Chinese tech giants have also improved their AI models, Liu Dingding, a veteran tech industry analyst, told the Global Times on Saturday.
Currently, Chinese companies have the potential to surpass their US counterparts in areas such as AI. Although the remarks made by the executives of American tech giants might be due to their pursuit of greater support from the US government, this also reflects a degree of anxiety among them over the possibility of being overtaken, Liu said.
The US Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Cruz, is looking to cut regulatory barriers to US AI, while DeepSeek challenges US AI dominance with a high-quality and affordable AI model and Huawei has unveiled an advanced AI chip, Reuters reported on Friday.
There is clear recognition of the strength of Chinese companies in the US AI industry. Altman's remarks in fact align with the views of many individuals in the American tech and business sectors, Cui Chuangang, a senior tech observer told the Global Times on Saturday.
Three other US AI and technology executives, AMD chief Lisa Su, CoreWeave's Michael Intrator and Microsoft vice chair Brad Smith, also participated in the hearing, according to Fox Business.
"The lesson from Huawei and 5G is that whoever gets there first will be difficult to supplant," Smith said, according to Fox Business.
The open-source nature of DeepSeek was one of the things that probably was most impactful, Su said, according the video of the hearing on the US Senate Committee's website.
Considering the recent launch of Huawei's HarmonyOS PC and other progress Chinese companies made, there has been broad and systemic advancement across China's technology sector, despite continued technological restrictions and blockades from the US, Liu said.
Global Times
"It's very hard to say how far ahead we are, but I would say, not a huge amount of time," Altman said in response to Republican Senator Ted Cruz's question about whether the US is ahead of China in the AI race, according to Fox Business.
Altman said Chinese AI firm DeepSeek has done two impressive things: strong open-source model and consumer app that became more downloaded than ChatGPT, according to the video of the hearing on the website of US Senate Committee.
Altman's acknowledgment aligns with the current reality, as this hearing came after DeepSeek had further advanced its AI model over time after its impressive debut, and several Chinese tech giants have also improved their AI models, Liu Dingding, a veteran tech industry analyst, told the Global Times on Saturday.
Currently, Chinese companies have the potential to surpass their US counterparts in areas such as AI. Although the remarks made by the executives of American tech giants might be due to their pursuit of greater support from the US government, this also reflects a degree of anxiety among them over the possibility of being overtaken, Liu said.
The US Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Cruz, is looking to cut regulatory barriers to US AI, while DeepSeek challenges US AI dominance with a high-quality and affordable AI model and Huawei has unveiled an advanced AI chip, Reuters reported on Friday.
There is clear recognition of the strength of Chinese companies in the US AI industry. Altman's remarks in fact align with the views of many individuals in the American tech and business sectors, Cui Chuangang, a senior tech observer told the Global Times on Saturday.
Three other US AI and technology executives, AMD chief Lisa Su, CoreWeave's Michael Intrator and Microsoft vice chair Brad Smith, also participated in the hearing, according to Fox Business.
"The lesson from Huawei and 5G is that whoever gets there first will be difficult to supplant," Smith said, according to Fox Business.
The open-source nature of DeepSeek was one of the things that probably was most impactful, Su said, according the video of the hearing on the US Senate Committee's website.
Considering the recent launch of Huawei's HarmonyOS PC and other progress Chinese companies made, there has been broad and systemic advancement across China's technology sector, despite continued technological restrictions and blockades from the US, Liu said.
Global Times
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