For many Chinese, the success of Deepseek is a victory for the Chinese education system, the proof that it is equal to that of the United States or even surpassed it.
The core team of developers and scientists behind Deepseek, the Chinese start-up that the AI world has shocked, all went to the university in China, according to the founder of the company. That is a contrast with many Chinese technology companies, which are often trained abroad abroad.
While Chinese commentators cherished online in the shocked reactions of Americans, some people pointed to the large number of science photos that China produces annually. “The success of Deepseek proves that our education is great,” read the head of one blog post.
Acclaim even collapsed from abroad. Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram message platform, said last month that fierce competition at Chinese schools had fueled the successes of the country in artificial intelligence. “If the US does not reform its education system, the technical leadership threatens to hand over China,” he wrote online.
The reality is more complicated. Yes, China has invested heavily in education, especially in science and technology, which has contributed to cherishing an important pool of talent, the key to the ambition to become a world leader in AI by 2023.
But outside the classroom, those graduates also have to fight with obstacles that include a grinding corporate culture and the political grilling of the ruling communist party. Under his current showpiece, XI Jinping, the party has emphasized control, instead of economic growth, and is willing to limit technology companies that find it too influential.
Deepseek has succeeded in avoiding much of that pressure, partly because it kept a low profile and the founder declared his dedication to intellectual exploration, instead of quick profit. However, it is still to be seen how long it can stay.
“There are many young, energetic and talented researchers and engineers in China. I don't think that in that perspective there is a big gap in terms of education between China and the US, especially in AI, “said Yiran Chen, a professor of electric and computer technology at Duke University. “But the limitation really comes from other parts.”
For many in China, the power of his education system is closely linked to the worldwide status of the nation. The government has invested heavily in higher education and the number of graduates from the university every year, once minuscule, has grown more than 14-time over the past two decades. Various Chinese universities are now among the best in the world. Yet the best and smartest students in China have been abroad for decades and many have stayed there.
Because of some statistics that is starting to change.
In 2020, China produced more than four times as many graduates in Stam as the United States. Specifically in AI, since 2018, it has added more than 2,300 non -graduated programs, according to Macropolo research, a research group based in Chicago that China studies.
By 2022, almost half of the world's best AI researchers from Chinese non -graduated institutions, in contrast to around 18 percent of American, found Macropolo. And while the majority of those top researchers are still working in the United States, a growing number work in China.
“You have made up all this talent in recent years. They have to go somewhere, “said Damien Ma, founder of Macropolo.
Washington has also made it harder for Chinese students in certain areas, including AI, to obtain Visa for the United States, with reference to concern about national security.
“If they don't go abroad, they start a business” or work for a Chinese, Mr. said.
Some have criticized the Chinese education system as an exaggerated exam -oriented and suffocating for creativity and innovation. The expansion of the Chinese AI course has been uneven and not every program produces Top Talent, Mr Ma acknowledged. But the top schools of China, such as Tsinghua University and Beijing University, are world class; Many of Deepseek's employees studied there.
The Chinese government also helped promote robust ties between the academic world and companies than in the West, said Marina Zhang, a professor at the University of Technology Sydney who studies Chinese innovation. It has deposited money into research projects and encouraged academics to contribute to national AI initiatives.
Yet the involvement of the government is also one of the greatest potential threats for Chinese innovation.
Beijing has blessed the AI sector – for now. But in 2020, after it had decided that it had too little control over large companies such as Alibaba, it launched a radical action against the Chinese technical industry for years. (The founder of Deepseek, Liang Wenfeng, turned to AI from his earlier focus on speculative trade, partly due to a separate performance by the government.)
The resulting dismissal at technology companies, in combination with the uncertainty of the future of the sector, helped to reduce the attraction of a sector that once attracted many of China's top students. Record numbers Young people have chosen to compete for jobs in the officials, who are little but stable.
AI has so far been somewhat protected from the Brainrain, partly because of the political imprimatur, said Yanbo Wang, a professor at the University of Hong Kong who studies China's technical entrepreneurship. He added that he expected more successful Chinese AI-start-ups to stand up, powered by young people. But it is impossible to say what the AI landscape of China would have looked like if Beijing had been more tolerant to large technology companies in recent years, he added.
“China's long-term competitive capacity in the long term not only depends on his voice education system, but also on the treatment of private investors, entrepreneurs and companies with a profit motive,” he added.
Even within private companies, employees often have to fight with a focus on fast results. This has led to a generally accepted stereotype, also in China, that Chinese engineers are better in improving the innovations of others than in coming up with their own people.
Mr. Liang, the founder of Deepseek, complained so much and noted last year that “top talents are underestimated in China. Because so little hard innovation happens at the social level, they do not have the chance to be recognized. “
The success of Deepseek can depend as much on how it differed from other Chinese technology companies as about how it shared their strengths. It was funded by the profit of her parent Hedgefonds. And Mr. Liang described in the spirit of promoting a freewheeling -intellectual atmosphere in addition to computer scientists to renting graduates from the humanities.
Since the success of Deepseek, some voices have urged more Chinese companies to pursue his model. An online comment from the communist party committee of the province of Zhejiang, where Deepseek has its head office, stated the need to “rely on young talent” and leading companies “to give more control over innovation sources”.
But the best way for China to take advantage of his well-trained, ambitious AI personnel file can be that the government will avoid.
“Innovation requires as little intervention and management as possible,” said Mr. Liang in another interview. “Innovation often comes naturally, not if something deliberately planned, let alone taught.”
Siyi Zhao contributed research.
