At the AGI-Next summit in Beijing, Alibaba AI scientist Lin Junyang warned that China has less than a 20% chance of exceeding the US in artificial intelligence over the next 3 to 5 years due to resource limits. He pointed out the gap, with US firms like OpenAI pouring massive computational resources into next-generation research while China is stretched thin just meeting daily demands.
At the AGI-Next summit hosted by Tsinghua University in Beijing's Zhongguancun technology hub, Lin Junyang joined a panel with Tang Jie, co-founder and chief AI scientist at Zhipu AI, known internationally as Z.ai. Lin highlighted China's challenges with chip deficits and resource limits in AI development. Third-party benchmarks show Chinese models have narrowed the performance gap with leading US models in recent years, though US models remain largely closed-source while Chinese developers have open-sourced theirs, boosting global adoption.
Lin stated: “Most critically, OpenAI and others are pouring massive computational resources into next-generation research. Meanwhile, in China, we are stretched to the limit just from meeting daily demand, which already takes up the vast majority of our compute.” Tang lent support to this cautious view.
Some experts predict breakthroughs for China within five years. Top Chinese AI scientists warn of chip shortages and resource constraints, yet acknowledge that open-sourcing drives international influence.
