Inside China's buzzing AI scene year after DeepSeek shock
Beijing (AFP) Jan 20, 2026
Before DeepSeek shook up the tech world and put Chinese artificial intelligence on the map, Wu Chenglin's own startup had nearly folded three times - but in the past year it has raised $30 million. The January 2025 release of a low-cost generative AI model from DeepSeek that performed at a similar level to ChatGPT and other top American chatbots upended assumptions of US dominance in the se
Before DeepSeek shook up the tech world and put Chinese artificial intelligence on the map, Wu Chenglin's own startup had nearly folded three times - but in the past year it has raised $30 million. The January 2025 release of a low-cost generative AI model from DeepSeek that performed at a similar level to ChatGPT and other top American chatbots upended assumptions of US dominance in the se