AI in China: A Race for Models or Real-World Applications?
Strategies of Chinese AI Giants: DeepSeek and ByteDance
The two companies, ByteDance and DeepSeek, leaders in China's AI industry, are adopting completely different strategies. DeepSeek has launched its new open-source model, DeepSeek V3.2, which it claims outperforms the latest OpenAI and Google models in some key mathematical benchmarks.
Meanwhile, ByteDance, known for the widespread use of its AI applications, has introduced more ways to use its chatbot, Doubao. ByteDance is currently working with a Chinese smartphone manufacturer to integrate Doubao into its operating system, giving it access to various applications and allowing it to perform agent tasks with them, in an attempt to compete with Apple's Siri.
Both companies, ByteDance and DeepSeek, have AI applications used by over 140 million monthly users. Their recent announcements represent two diverging trends in China's AI industry; while some companies compete with their Western counterparts to build more capable models, others have quietly withdrawn from this race and are focusing on integrating AI tools into users' daily lives.
DeepSeek: Leading Open Models and Efficiency
And DeepSeek says its DeepSeek V3.2 model can solve advanced mathematical questions posed in the International Mathematical Olympiad, and its performance in other coding and reasoning tasks rivals or surpasses GPT 5 and Gemini 3. This model has caused a stir in the AI industry.
The distinguishing feature of DeepSeek is its focus on model efficiency from the outset, partly due to its lack of abundant supplies of computer chips. As a result, its models often use less computational resources for training and cost developers less to run compared to Western lab models.
ByteDance: Integrating AI into Daily Life
In contrast, ByteDance is taking a completely different path. Although the social media giant does not manufacture smartphones, it is transforming its chatbot, Doubao, into what closely resembles a smartphone operating system. In late November, ByteDance launched Doubao Input Method, a keyboard application that allows users to quickly type Chinese characters and provides another entry point into ByteDance's AI application ecosystem.
The most ambitious step from ByteDance recently came with the launch of its Doubao AI agent, which can be integrated into a smartphone operating system, giving it control over any application. Illustrative videos show how Doubao can access the Tesla app and open the car trunk using voice commands, search different e-commerce platforms to find the lowest prices, and access and enhance photos in the user's gallery with AI.
And ByteDance is working with Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE to pre-install the Doubao agent on one of its phone models, the Nubia M153. ByteDance is also in talks with other smartphone manufacturers about installing its agent, but it seems unlikely that many will accept this offer, as the most popular Chinese smartphone brands, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, are all developing their own AI agents.
The Doubao agent has already been blocked by China's most popular application, Tencent's WeChat. With over 1.4 billion users and a wide range of features, WeChat is as close to an operating system as it gets in China today. Users on Chinese social media reported that their accounts were suspended from WeChat after using the Doubao agent to access it, a punishment no one wants to risk receiving in China. Doubao quickly announced that it had disabled its agent from working with WeChat and said that suspended users would soon have their accounts restored.
Comprehensive Comparison and Chinese Industry Trends
DeepSeek and ByteDance's Doubao represent opposite ends of the spectrum of Chinese AI companies, while other companies fall in the middle. Small but powerful startups like Zhipu, Minimax, and Moonshot are following in DeepSeek's footsteps, launching capable open-source models, while Baidu and Tencent are taking a more application-focused approach. Alibaba remains largely on DeepSeek's side, constantly releasing new versions of its open-source Qwen models, but recently seems eager to move to the other side, having launched a consumer-focused AI super app last month.
ByteDance does not have to compete in the AI benchmark race because it already has a massive user base, and as a private company, it does not need to worry about stock market fluctuations. They appear to be focused on integrating a powerful AI model into their existing applications. Companies like Alibaba and Google could also take this path, but they seem more interested in prestige and winning awards than ByteDance.
