China is seeking global influence and good will with its open, low-cost artificial intelligence software.
In the Cold War era, “soft power” meant American movies and music that won hearts and minds abroad. Today, in the digital era, China is promoting a very different kind of soft power: its open, low-cost artificial intelligence technology.
In a speech last week, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, described so-called open-source A.I. as key to China’s ambitions to shape the global development of the technology. Mr. Xi hailed open-sourcing, in which much of the software can be freely shared and modified, as a “rare and historical opportunity” to spread the technology’s benefits worldwide.
Mr. Xi made clear that China will champion the open path as an alternative to relying on U.S. tech giants, whose A.I. software is typically closed and more costly.
“A.I. development should not be a solo performance by a single country,” Mr. Xi said, “but a symphony of global collaboration.”
The Chinese are calling for a new A.I. order amid a mounting battle for global dominance between the leading American companies and fast-moving Chinese rivals.
U.S. companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google hold their technology close, arguing that guarding the underlying code ensures greater security and control of powerful A.I. systems. Chinese companies like DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Z.ai and Alibaba have championed open-source A.I. They contend that those systems cost less, will accelerate global adoption and are no less secure.
