According to a Washington-based analyst specializing in AI and US-China tech statecraft, China is taking a different approach to AI compared to the US. While American companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic usually keep their advanced AI models restricted behind paywalls or license them to businesses, Chinese tech giants are distributing their models for free and swiftly integrating them into various services.

Instead of focusing on outperforming established players like OpenAI, China is prioritizing the wide implementation of AI across all sectors. This rapid integration may be just as significant as model quality in determining a country's global competitiveness in AI.

Despite the US having a slight lead in advanced AI models compared to China, the latter's aggressive efforts to embed AI into everyday technology could provide an advantage in practical adoption and integration. Chinese companies like Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent have been releasing powerful AI models and updates to the market. For example, Alibaba introduced a new AI model for cost-effective AI agents, while DeepSeek launched an upgraded version of its open-source V3 large language model. These models, such as Alibaba's Qwen2.5-Omni-7B and DeepSeek's V3, can be freely accessed, modified, and integrated by anyone.

Chinese firms are also focusing on rapid deployment and consolidation of AI to remain competitive amidst high costs and chip shortages. Tencent, for instance, has implemented its Hunyuan model and DeepSeek R1 in its vast ecosystem, including the popular WeChat app, which has nearly 1.4 billion users.