China still has so much leverage and innovation that other regions and countries just cannot match. Even if their economic trajectory might not be the same post 2022, that doesn't not necessarily mean that their technological prowess is any less impressive.
We have seen that with the Qwen and Deepseek models recently in open source AI. China's going to be a powerhouse in things like biotech and Robotics. It's clear their efforts in space technology in space mining will rival even the best companies of the United States sooner than later.
I’m not knocking China’s impressive AI tech and advancements, but this article feels disingenuous (if not simply ignorant) at how great the tech is and why most of this tech is not widely used outside of China. China’s population is ~1.4+B people and most for their MAUs (seem to) come from Chinese users due to not having any other options bc the government bans anything they disagree with…
(I think) TikTok is banned in China and Douyin is what they use instead - “ByteDance’s Douyin with ~1 billion MAU in China alone“
China doesn’t allow for a majority of western tech to be used by its citizens so they use WeChat instead of iMessage, WhatsApp, etc - “Tencent’s WeChat with ~1.38 billion MAU”
These two are impressive and deserve the accolades, even though TikTok is easily argued as an easy in for a psyops campaign to formidable American minds
- Alibaba with ~935 million monthly active users (MAU) on Taobao
- TikTok with ~1 billion global MAU, offers access to a wealth of user data for insights and learning.
I do agree their ability to seamlessly integrate all technologies into an easy to use platform is a great UI but it’s giving them too much credit considering they’re required to use those tools and they don’t have to worry about competition. It’d be like congratulating Apple on a seamless interface…duh, it’s going to be good bc they have control over the whole thing (and they did a great job in general bc of their unified talent and vision).
I loved learning about the competitive advantages like mobile-first design, super apps, and payment integration that have fueled growth.
China still has so much leverage and innovation that other regions and countries just cannot match. Even if their economic trajectory might not be the same post 2022, that doesn't not necessarily mean that their technological prowess is any less impressive.
We have seen that with the Qwen and Deepseek models recently in open source AI. China's going to be a powerhouse in things like biotech and Robotics. It's clear their efforts in space technology in space mining will rival even the best companies of the United States sooner than later.
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I’m not knocking China’s impressive AI tech and advancements, but this article feels disingenuous (if not simply ignorant) at how great the tech is and why most of this tech is not widely used outside of China. China’s population is ~1.4+B people and most for their MAUs (seem to) come from Chinese users due to not having any other options bc the government bans anything they disagree with…
(I think) TikTok is banned in China and Douyin is what they use instead - “ByteDance’s Douyin with ~1 billion MAU in China alone“
China doesn’t allow for a majority of western tech to be used by its citizens so they use WeChat instead of iMessage, WhatsApp, etc - “Tencent’s WeChat with ~1.38 billion MAU”
These two are impressive and deserve the accolades, even though TikTok is easily argued as an easy in for a psyops campaign to formidable American minds
- Alibaba with ~935 million monthly active users (MAU) on Taobao
- TikTok with ~1 billion global MAU, offers access to a wealth of user data for insights and learning.
I do agree their ability to seamlessly integrate all technologies into an easy to use platform is a great UI but it’s giving them too much credit considering they’re required to use those tools and they don’t have to worry about competition. It’d be like congratulating Apple on a seamless interface…duh, it’s going to be good bc they have control over the whole thing (and they did a great job in general bc of their unified talent and vision).
It's interesting to see the comparison between chinese and western apps. Same purpose but different apps!
Very insightful. Thank you
Great article Ollie
Great article Ollie and Grace!