01.AI, a Chinese AI startup founded by computer scientist Kai-Fu Lee, has recently launched its new AI model, Yi-Lightning. This model is said to surpass OpenAI’s GPT-4o-2024-05-13 and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet on the LMSYS leaderboard. However, the latest ChatGPT-4o still remains at the top spot. The company is now shifting its focus towards enterprise solutions in China, as monetizing consumer products has proven to be challenging. Its chatbot, Wanzhi, only received 100,000 visits in September, while its competitors Baidu’s ERNIE Bot and Moonshot’s Kimi received over 20 million visits, according to SimilarWeb.
On the day of Yi-Lightning’s launch, 01.AI also introduced a digital human solution for retail and e-commerce. Despite this shift towards enterprise solutions in China, the company remains committed to its global consumer apps such as PopAI, Monoland, and the AI search app BeaGo. The strong ranking of Yi-Lightning on the LMSYS leaderboard, surpassing GPT-4o, showcases China’s growing strength in the field of AI. With its lower costs and faster performance, Yi-Lightning is attracting developers, especially in markets where affordability is a key factor.
In a previous interview, Lee emphasized the need for China to develop its own version of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s 2022 chatbot, which is currently banned in the country. This would help boost interest, adoption, and investment in AI. Chinese AI company Hugging Face’s CEO Clement Delangue has also praised China’s progress in the field, stating that “Qwen 72B is the king, and Chinese open models are dominating overall.” Alibaba’s Qwen 2-72B is now at the top of Hugging Face’s LLM Leaderboard, outperforming other open-source models. Lee believes that China’s advantage lies in its determination to catch up with other countries in the field of AI.
The Chinese government has also been providing support to its tech companies in the ongoing AI battle against America. With AI being a national priority, China aims to become the world leader in AI by 2030. This shows the country’s commitment to developing and advancing in the field of AI. In conclusion, 01.AI’s success with Yi-Lightning and China’s overall progress in AI demonstrate the country’s growing strength and potential in this field.
