{"id":103650,"date":"2026-02-26T17:07:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/895876617"},"modified":"2026-02-26T17:07:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:07:49","slug":"how-china-is-betting-cheap-ai-will-get-the-world-hooked-on-its-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/how-china-is-betting-cheap-ai-will-get-the-world-hooked-on-its-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"How China is betting cheap AI will get the world hooked on its tech"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is at a very Chinese time in its life<\/a>. Recent moves from Chinese AI labs are throwing the dominance of American \u201cfrontier labs\u201d such as Google and OpenAI into question.<\/p>\n

Last week ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, released an AI video-generating tool called Seedance 2.0 which produces high-quality film-like clips from text prompts, with a casual disregard for copyright concerns<\/a>. This week Anthropic, the US company behind the chatbot Claude, said three Chinese AI labs<\/a> created thousands of fake accounts to harvest Claude\u2019s answers in a practice called \u201cdistillation\u201d which can be used to improve AI models.<\/p>\n

These events have led to suggestions that China may be gaining the upper hand<\/a> in the battle to dominate AI. So, is China winning the \u201cAI race\u201d? <\/p>\n

Cheap, widely used tools<\/h2>\n

While most advanced frontier models are still made by American companies, China is pushing hard to develop cheap, widely used AI tools, which could create global dependence on Chinese platforms. <\/p>\n

Reuters reports the industry is bracing<\/a> for a \u201cflurry\u201d of low-cost Chinese AI models, with Chinese systems repeatedly driving usage costs down. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the plan? China\u2019s official AI policy documents suggest China sees AI<\/a> as \u201ca new engine for building China into both a manufacturing and cyber superpower\u201d, and<\/a> \u201ca new engine of economic development\u201d. <\/p>\n

Since 2017, China has recognised that the technology is at the centre of \u201cinternational competition\u201d. \u201cBy 2030,\u201d one key policy document<\/a> says, China\u2019s AI \u201ctechnology and application should achieve world-leading levels, making China the world\u2019s primary AI innovation center\u201d.<\/p>\n

This focus on becoming the dominant player in AI helps explain why Chinese firms are pushing hard on price. If you can make your AI cheap enough, you might just make it globally ubiquitous. <\/p>\n

Cost helps determine who adopts AI first, and which models are first implemented in software and services. Even if the United States remains ahead on most elite benchmarks, Chinese products could still become globally influential if they are widely used and widely depended upon.<\/p>\n

High-tech soft power<\/h2>\n

But China does not present its AI technology to the world as only benefiting itself. Instead, it\u2019s pitched as a contribution to humanity. <\/p>\n

A 2019 statement<\/a> of \u201cgovernance principles\u201d from a national AI governance expert committee argues that AI development should enhance \u201cthe common well-being of humanity\u201d and \u201cserve the progress of human civilization\u201d. <\/p>\n

These phrases portray AI as a technology that advances the human story itself, rather than only serving Chinese interests. It suggests Chinese AI leadership is good for everyone.<\/p>\n

This is an example of Chinese soft power. Tools such as Seedance may threaten Hollywood\u2019s business model, but they do something else too. High-quality, low-cost generative media can spread quickly. <\/p>\n

If Chinese systems become widespread, they can influence creators, developer habits, and platform dependencies, especially in non-Western markets that need affordable tools and may dislike American tech dominance.<\/p>\n

The spread of the \u2018Chinese model\u2019<\/h2>\n

For liberal democracies such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, the growth of Chinese AI tools creates a strategic headache. It will not be easy to manage security concerns about Chinese technology while avoiding technological isolation if Chinese AI tools become widely adopted.<\/p>\n

There is a darker side to China\u2019s AI tools. US think-tank Freedom House describes<\/a> China as having the world\u2019s \u201cworst conditions for internet freedom\u201d, and suggests<\/a> other nations are now \u201cembracing the \u2018Chinese model\u2019 of extensive censorship and automated surveillance\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued rules<\/a> for the algorithms that curate news feeds and short video platforms. Providers are required to \u201cuphold mainstream value orientations\u201d and \u201cvigorously disseminate positive energy\u201d. <\/p>\n

These algorithms are important because they shape what people see and what is suppressed. As a result, these rules suggest the Chinese government is deeply concerned with controlling information across its social media platforms and AI tools.<\/p>\n

A dilemma for third parties<\/h2>\n

Not every Chinese AI tool is a propaganda weapon. Rather, China is building world-class AI technology within an authoritarian system that prioritises the control of information. <\/p>\n

This means China\u2019s ability to make generative AI commercially powerful will likely also, despite its claims about serving \u201chuman civilisation\u201d, make censorship and narrative management cheaper and easier.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s business and soft-power model is a much bigger story than just Seedance\u2019s cavalier attitude towards copyright or Anthropic\u2019s concerns about intellectual property. China\u2019s goal is to build AI tools that rival those created by America\u2019s tech giants, and to make them inexpensive and adopted globally. <\/p>\n

For other countries, this may create a dilemma. Once a technology becomes a standard, it can be difficult to justify using a different product. <\/p>\n

The question that remains is whether liberal democracies can adopt China\u2019s low-cost products without drifting into dependence on systems shaped by an authoritarian political model.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… , China\u00e2\u0080\u0099s AI \u00e2\u0080\u009ctechnology<\/span> and application should achieve … tech<\/span> soft power But China does not present its AI technology<\/span> … security concerns about Chinese technology<\/span> while avoiding technological isolation … building world-class AI technology<\/span> within an authoritarian …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}