China's AI user count surpasses 230 million people
In the bustling landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), China is making significant strides. According to a report by SCMP, citing data from CNNIC, roughly one in six Chinese residents actively uses AI products, with the number of users exceeding 230 million by the end of June.
Leading this AI revolution in China is the tech giant Alibaba. In November, Alibaba introduced the Qwen2-Math model, focused on mathematical tasks and claimed to outperform GPT-4 and Claude 3.5. This model is part of Alibaba's Qwen large language model family, known for its advanced reasoning and math capabilities.
The popularity of large language models in China is evident. Most users in the country utilise these models to get answers to their questions. Among the most popular AI products is the Ernie bot from tech giant Baidu, used by 11.5% of the audience. However, American AI models like ChatGPT from OpenAI, officially unavailable in mainland China, are still used by 7% of Chinese users, despite their inaccessibility. Google's Gemini, too, is used by 3.8% of Chinese users.
Beijing and Shanghai lead the way in the number of AI-based services, with 96 and 84 services respectively, as of November, when 309 such services were registered in China. Despite facing challenges due to U.S. restrictions, including the inability to export advanced graphics processors, major Chinese tech companies like Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent have already launched their own AI solutions.
These hardware barriers create challenges for further AI development in China. However, they haven't deterred Chinese companies from continuing to innovate. In July, Kuaishou opened access to its video generation AI model, Kling.
Despite the widespread use of AI for everyday tasks, the majority of users in China employ AI for professional purposes. This trend is expected to continue as AI technology continues to evolve and become more integrated into daily life.
