Today, there is more reason than ever to believe Chinese AI companies can rival their US peers. DeepSeek’s latest two new models match the reasoning performance of OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Google’s Gemini-3 Pro. The runaway success of R1 and Alibaba’s Qwen have made open-source models the norm in China. Companies like Baidu, Zhipu, Moonshot AI and Meituan all allow users to download their cutting-edge models, interrogate how they work and adapt them. Contrasted with the secretive development of LLMs in the US, they offer a distinct Chinese pathway for progress in AI.
