Same, you can think of China whatever you want but they're really good at giving big tech a reality check when it comes to AI. We now got a pretty wide range of open-weight models (from DeepSeek and MiMo over to Kimi K3, Qwen 3.8 & GLM-5.2) and I think it's most important that there's a variance not only between quality / intelligence and also cost.

I mean even the cheapest option for Luna is still more expensive than anything DS or MiMo is offering right now and I think a new Ministral model would also hit hard there because we also need some variance in model sources, we can't rely only on the US and China.

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glimshe a day ago | parent [-]

"China" isn't giving anything. These are Chinese companies leveraging their best competitive strategy at the moment: competing on price.

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derektank a day ago | parent | next [-]

Those Chinese companies are being funded by a substantial amount of government financing, I think at least 20% has come directly from state owned investment firms or government entities and probably more now. You obviously lose precision when you’re talking in sweeping terms like “China” but I don’t think it’s entirely unreasonable in this case. The Chinese government is playing a much more direct role in AI investment and research than other nations.

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glimshe a day ago | parent [-]

Nonetheless, the government isn't giving it away either. If China had a monopoly on the technology, or simply winning in quality, open weight models would never have seen the light of the day.

I just want to dispell the silly notion of altruism from China in this conversation.

	▲	rikima_ 15 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Bad chyna

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satvikpendem 21 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The Chinese government is explicitly calling for open weight AI models, which influence its companies.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48970449