China’s Premier Li Qiang warned Saturday that artificial intelligence (AI) development must be weighed against the security risks, saying global consensus was urgently needed even as the tech race between Beijing and Washington shows no sign of abating.

Yet while the U.S. appears to focus on powerful yet proprietary large language models, enterprise AI, and semiconductors, China is taking a vastly different approach to cultivating its AI industry.

U.S. AI models still control over 70 percent of the market, but a collaborative, open source approach has enabled Chinese labs to punch far above their weight.

HANNA DOHMEN is a Senior Research Analyst at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology and a Nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) unveiled the ScienceOne model on Saturday at the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, marking a significant advance in AI-driven research innovation.

At the Beijing Expo, Jensen Huang also announced plans for a new chip for Chinese clients that is designed for robotics and smart factories.