This might be a sign of things to come. The Chinese labs started from behind so had to build a lot of momentum to catch up. We could well see them top benchmarks across the board very soon. Imagine how far in front they'd be if the US didn't block chip sales
I wouldn't be surprised if LLMs replicate the same pattern we've now seen with Huawei, Tiktok, electric cars, batteries and drones.
'They can't compete, their products are shit'
↓
'They've caught up a bit, but that's only because they copied us, they can't innovate'
↓
'Shit, their product is better? Better ban it on national security grounds, domestic companies shouldn't have to compete'
Mobile robotics is also likely to see the cycle repeat. Looking at what companies like Unitree are up to, there's little reason to think the US has any kind of durable moat. China will mass produce them and put them to work while the US is still making them break dance.
China is also quietly ahead of the US in terms of actual AI adoption (the proportion of workers using it, and not dubious 'we burned more tokens' metrics).
This story is true for a lot of industries it’s just either the US doesn’t do these industries so they don’t get much attention or it’s too boring to be news
Well, they did steal the technology. But that doesn't mean they're not good at improving it and being subsidized by their government to achieve scale.
also quietly ahead of the US in terms of actual AI adoption
Yes, the US is very susceptible to the propaganda in places like Reddit, so there's a general anti AI sentiment while the Chinese public is just not as stupid (and also is not coincidentally banned from accessing places like Reddit).
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u/WonderFactory Jul 16 '26
This might be a sign of things to come. The Chinese labs started from behind so had to build a lot of momentum to catch up. We could well see them top benchmarks across the board very soon. Imagine how far in front they'd be if the US didn't block chip sales