Why China’s feverish use of AI tools could shape how the tech is used globally |
Why China’s feverish use of AI tools could shape how the tech is used globally
According to a report by China Internet Network Information Center, over 600 million Chinese were using generative AI as of December, a 142% jump from the year prior.
A staff member, left, helps a woman to install the RedClaw AI software on her laptop at an office in Beijing on March 22, 2026. [Photo: Andy Wong/AP Photo]
On a recent weekday, around 50 people gathered outside the headquarters of a Chinese mobile internet company, waiting to get help with installing an artificial intelligence assistant.The scene in Beijing, China’s capital, was repeated for days at several events and was also seen in the southern technology hub Shenzhen in March, as engineers helped crowds trying to set up the popular AI “agent” OpenClaw on their laptops.“I’m worried about falling behind in technological developments,” said Sun Lei, a 41-year-old human resources manager at the Cheetah event. She said she hoped the tool might help her source and screen resumes across various recruitment platforms.More than a year after OpenAI’s Chinese rival DeepSeek stunned the world with its advanced AI model, China has become a testing ground for mass use of AI tools. AI models built in the United States still dominate in raw computing firepower, but Chinese people and businesses have rapidly embraced the technology, facilitating its swift and widespread adoption in almost every possible field.As global AI adoption rises quickly at workplaces and in daily lives, ordinary Chinese are using AI for all sorts of things, from booking and planning travel, ordering food and hailing rides. Of its 1.4 billion population, more than 600 million were using generative AI as of December, a 142% increase from a year earlier, according to a report by the government-controlled China Internet Network Information Center.And, with the recent surge in the use of “agentic” AI like OpenClaw including for many Chinese businesses, the consumption of data by AI models has also risen.........