0.1AI, a Chinese startup founded by Kai-Fu Lee, has raised $200 million in investment and is valued at over $1 billion.
The company's open-source model, Yi-34B, outperforms models like Meta's Llama 2 on key metrics and has quickly gained recognition in the AI community for its performance.
Beyond the open-source model, 0.1AI plans to work with customers on proprietary alternatives tailored for specific industries or competitive situations. The company is already developing a 100-billion-plus parameter model to benchmark against OpenAI's GPT-4.
0.1AI aims to provide a Chinese equivalent of OpenAI and plans to offer systems in both English and Chinese to cater to global companies like banks, insurers, and trading companies.
The rise of 0.1AI highlights the capacity of China to challenge Western leadership in technology and innovation.
Advanced AI companies like 0.1AI are examples of ‘domestic champions’, as that term is used in Ian Hogarth’s essay on AI Nationalism.
Sources
- https://economictimes.com/tech/technology/ettech-explained-has-a-new-china-based-ai-model-beaten-silicon-valleys-llms/articleshow/105031661.cms
- https://www.alsahm.com/news/content/former-google-china-presidents-startup-01ai-hits-1b-valuation-outperforms-metas-llama-2-2023-11-06
- https://www.wired.com/story/chinese-startup-01-ai-is-winning-the-open-source-ai-race/