China Releases Over 70 Large Language Models in Response to US-China Trade War
Chinese institutions and technology companies have accelerated their release of large language models (LLMs) with over one billion parameters, intensifying the ongoing US-China trade war focused on technology prowess. Baidu, one of the leading Chinese technology companies, recently obtained regulatory approval in China for its AI chatbot, Ernie 3.5, which boasts twice the processing power and a 50% improvement in efficiency compared to its predecessor. This chatbot is considered China’s response to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
In response to the growing competition, several Chinese companies, including ByteDance, SenseTime, Zhipu AI, MiniMax, and Baichuan Intelligent Technology, have also released ChatGPT-like generative AI assistants in the domestic market after receiving approvals from regulators.
On the other side, US technology companies and institutions have also been actively releasing large language models. Meta’s Llama 2, OpenAI’s GPT 3.5 and GPT-4, Google’s PaLM 2 and LaMDA, IBM’s watsonx models, Anthorpic’s Claude 2, Databricks’ Dolly, and Amazon’s Titan foundation models are a few examples of models released in recent months.
However, collaboration between Chinese and American organizations for the development of large language models has significantly decreased since 2020. This decline can be attributed to restrictions imposed by the US on the export of chipmaking technology to China. The US aims to limit China’s growing technological influence and geopolitical power.
Despite the decrease in collaboration, the US still dominates in terms of private investment in artificial intelligence and the number of newly funded AI companies. The US received roughly 3.5 times the private investment in AI compared to China in 2022. Similarly, the number of newly funded AI companies in the US was significantly higher than in the European Union, the UK, and China.
Experts suggest that China’s rapid progress in the LLM domain makes it difficult to predict the winner of the race for AI and LLM dominance. Chinese tech giants such as Baidu and Alibaba are aggressively investing in this space, aiming to benchmark their models against US-developed models like GPT-4. The availability of large datasets in local languages gives Chinese firms an advantage in the domestic market.
Research papers and citations also indicate China’s progress. While the US still leads in the non-profit, government, and industry sectors, China has overtaken the US in the education sector. This progress, combined with the ongoing trade war, has led US lawmakers to urge the Biden administration to take further action to impede China’s advancements in artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
In conclusion, the intensifying US-China trade war has sparked increased competition in the development and release of large language models. While the US currently holds the lead, China is rapidly catching up and showing promising signs of growth in the AI sector.
Definitions:
– Large Language Model (LLM): Advanced AI models with a high number of parameters used for natural language processing tasks.
– AI Chatbot: An AI-powered computer program designed to simulate human conversation through text or voice interactions.
Sources:
– ChinaDaily (news report from ChinaDaily)
– Stanford University study (the study does not have a specific URL)
– Pareek Jain, Principal Analyst at Pareekh Consulting (quote)
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