China is fiercely competing with the United States for leadership in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. In addition to possessing a culture that has embraced these technologies for years, China has implemented strategies such as creating a supercomputer with its own components to train its models and lead in many fields of AI research. The country has showcased to the world its various language models for multiple uses, including an alternative to Sora for generating hyper-realistic videos.
Alibaba Cloud: The platform for developers worldwide
Developers can find many of these language models on Alibaba Cloud, the Chinese equivalent of Azure or AWS, powered by the conglomerate that owns AliExpress and other companies. This cloud service has recently added a collection of thousands of language models in English under the name of Modelscope.
Modelscope in English: A step towards globalization
Launched in 2022, Modelscope is similar to offerings like Microsoft Azure OpenAI Studio and Amazon Web Services. It is a collection of libraries for the use and operation of language models developed from multiple sources, allowing developers to access these models without the need to work with them locally.
Since its launch, Alibaba Cloud claims that Modelscope has over 5,000 language models, including ‘Qwen’, the Chinese equivalent of ChatGPT, and over 1,500 high-quality datasets in Chinese, along with a wide range of data processing support tools.
Global expansion with challenges
Although the service was already accessible worldwide, the English version of Modelscope aims to globalize its usage, making it easier for developers who do not master Chinese to access it. Alibaba Cloud ranks third in cloud service revenue, behind AWS and Azure, and sometimes even ahead of Google Cloud in some Asian markets. However, outside of Asia, it is not yet a dangerous competitor.
Privacy concerns
Despite efforts to expand globally, Alibaba Cloud faces concerns about privacy and compliance with Chinese national security laws, which require sharing information with the Beijing government when requested. This raises mistrust among potential Western clients, who consider that Alibaba Cloud presents a higher risk profile than its competitors, limiting its adoption outside of China and Asia.
Alibaba Cloud and its Modelscope platform represent a significant step in the globalization of AI developed in China. While facing challenges in terms of privacy and risk perception, its expansion in English could attract more developers and companies worldwide, expanding its influence in the competitive field of AI.