OpenAI's Sora has stirred awe and concern in the Chinese tech landscape. Praised for its natural-looking visuals, it is compared to a 'Newton moment' in AI development. The potential gap between China and the US in AI development raises concerns. China's access to cutting-edge technology remains restricted.
The release of
OpenAI
's text-to-video generator,
Sora
, has sent ripples through the
Chinese tech landscape
, eliciting a mixture of awe and concern. OpenAI's latest advancement in
artificial intelligence
is the video generation tool Sora. According to a report by South China Morning Post, one Chinese entrepreneur called it a “Newton moment.” Yin Ye, CEO of genomics giant BGI Group, told the publication ““I’d like to compare this to the Newton moment of
AI
development,” Yin said.
Sora, unveiled last week, allows users to create realistic and dynamic videos using simple text prompts. This technology has the potential to disrupt various sectors, from advertising and entertainment to education and healthcare. Chinese experts have been particularly impressed by its capabilities, praising its natural-looking visuals and seamless integration of text and video generation.
Zhou Hongyi, the chairman and CEO of 360 Security Technology, voiced concerns on Weibo, a microblogging site, regarding the potential widening gap between China and the US in AI development. He suggested that if OpenAI is engaged in developing undisclosed "secret weapons," the divide could grow even larger.
Zhou indicated that China's leading large language models (LLMs), such as those powering AI tools like
ChatGPT
, have nearly reached the capabilities of GPT-3.5. However, he noted a gap of approximately 1.5 years between China's current models and the release of GPT-4 by OpenAI in March 2023.
While some Chinese entrepreneurs remain cautious about overstating the capabilities of Chinese AI, others express reservations about the progress achieved by Sora, a notable AI system.
Fang Han, CEO of the game developer and publisher Kunlun Tech, conveyed skepticism in an interview with the government-run Shang Securities News. He remarked that based on the demo videos provided by Sora, the system has yet to make significant strides in understanding the world.
The United States has imposed stringent restrictions on the export of semiconductor tools, effectively preventing Chinese companies from accessing cutting-edge technology in this field. These measures, which target products utilising US-origin technology, have escalated over time. In October, the US further tightened these restrictions, barring mainland China's access to graphics processing units (GPUs) specifically crafted by Nvidia for Chinese clientele in response to earlier limitations.
English (US) ·