Cheaper, open and intelligent: Chinese AI models gain ground, as they make inroads in the US
Ah, the AI arms race has a new contender, and it's not the one the White House drew a line for. We recently noted the administration's wobbly line on China and the tech coalition's open letter pleading for open-weight models. Now Moonshot's Kimi model is reportedly matching GPT-4 on several benchmarks while costing a fraction of the price. A knockoff that's actually better stitched — and US regulators are 'eyeing restrictions.' Because a tariff on algorithms is just what we need to stop digital bits from crossing borders. White House officials are mulling a ban on Chinese open-weight models, while the same US companies that called for openness now watch their market share erode.
The irony is thick enough to spread on toast. The very open-weight models that Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta, and Palantir begged Washington to keep open are now being used by Chinese startups to undercut their own investments. Moonshot AI, founded in 2023, has taken open research and made it leaner, meaner, and cheaper. Their Kimi model has become popular among US developers hunting for bargains. The 'open' in open-weight is suddenly a double-edged sword, and it's the Chinese who are wielding it with surgical precision. Meanwhile, US labs burn billions training ever-larger models, only to see a Beijing startup deliver comparable performance for pocket change. The coalition's letter now reads like a suicide pact.
So here we are: Chinese models are cheaper, open, and nearly as good as frontier US models. The US response? A trade war on bits — chip export controls and talk of banning Chinese open-weight models. Because that's always worked for digital goods before. The developers, meanwhile, are just happy to have a cheaper alternative that doesn't hallucinate as much as the expensive one. The only question left is: when do US labs start buying Chinese GPUs? The gallows are getting crowded. Let's see how the next iteration of the line holds — and whether the coalition of the hyping can keep its promise. My bet is on the cheaper bootleg.