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The few first weeks of 2025 have been nothing short of entertaining with AI technology breakthroughs and stock market roller-coasters. In a dramatic turn of events, the AI world was set abuzz by a high-profile announcement: a $500 billion investment in AI, reportedly backed by a coalition of U.S. and Japanese tech billionaires and championed by the sitting US President.
This staggering figure, symbolising the US’s usual show of financial muscle and ambition to dominate the AI race, was meant to solidify its leadership in the field. Yet, within days, this headline was overshadowed by a seismic development from a virtually unexpected corner of the world.
Enter DeepSeek, a relatively unknown open-source AGI platform from China. Developed at a ‘ridiculous ticket price’ of $6 million, the Tsunami wave generated by the DeepSeek tremor slashed 17% on NVIDIA share price, resulting in a market capitalisation loss of approximately $593 billion—the largest single-day loss in U.S. market history. Other tech giants, including Broadcom, Microsoft, and Alphabet, also experienced significant declines, contributing to a broader market downturn.
The DeepSeek shake-up was just the beginning. Days later, another aftershock rippled through the global AI landscape, emanating from the same fault line, with the introduction of Qwen 2.5-Max by Alibaba. This model not only surpassed DeepSeek V3 but also outperformed OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o in key benchmarks, further cementing China’s growing influence in the AI arena. The speed and scale of these advancements are breathtaking.
Then this week, came the latest shockwave: HealthGPT, a groundbreaking Medical Large Vision-Language Model (Med-LVLM) developed in collaboration between Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore. This innovative platform integrates medical visual comprehension and generation capabilities within a unified autoregressive paradigm, promising to revolutionise healthcare diagnostics and treatment planning. Its release underscored the relentless pace of AI innovation, this time driven by a broader East-Asian partnership and framed by the same culture.
Why are Eastern AI technologies outrageously outpacing the West’s?
The superficial answer is this: they are all open-source, cost-efficient, and designed to excel under constraints—such as limited access to advanced hardware like NVIDIA’s H800 chips. However, I believe the deeper and more nuanced answer lies in the cultural fabric of Confucian societies: unlike the US’s prominent focus on individualism, market domination and public chest-beating, Confucianism emphasises collectivism, where individuals are seen as part of a larger social structure. Duty to these collectives is often prioritised over personal ambition. This cultural ethos fosters collaboration and a shared sense of duty, enabling communities to tackle challenges collectively. In the face of US restrictions on advanced AI chips, among other adversities, Chinese communities’ response has been to flock together, tapping into existing regional patnerships and naturally leveraging open-source innovation to overcome geopolitical barriers and redraw boundaries.
The US’s $500 billion announcement, while symbolically significant, now serves as a stark contrast to the rapid, efficient and grassroots-driven innovations from across the Pacific. It highlights a fundamental divergence in approach: while the West invests heavily in centralised, capital-intensive initiatives, the East is pioneering a decentralised, open-source revolution that is breaking benchmark barriers at an unprecedented pace.
This unfolding saga is more than just a competition for technological supremacy—it’s a collision of philosophies and cultural stances, a testament to the power of collective ingenuity, and a reminder that the future of AI may not be shaped by who spends the most, but by who innovates the fastest and most inclusively. History is full of similar feats, not least during the Islamic Golden Age, a period of unparalleled openness and innovation that reshaped the world.
Learning from History
Between the 8th and 13th centuries, the Muslim world became a beacon of knowledge, inclusivity, and progress. Scholars from diverse backgrounds—Arab, Persian, Indian, Jewish, Christian, and others—flocked to centres of learning like Baghdad, Cordoba, and Cairo. They translated and preserved ancient Greek, Roman, and Indian texts, while making groundbreaking contributions in fields like mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and philosophy. Figures like Al-Khawarizmi, the father of algebra, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), whose medical texts were used in Europe for centuries, and Al-Haytham, a pioneer of optics, exemplify the era’s spirit of collaboration and intellectual curiosity.
This golden age was fuelled by an inclusive approach to knowledge, where ideas were shared freely across cultures and religions. Before it was burned down by the Mongols in 1258 AD, the House of Wisdom (aka. Bayt El Hikma) in Baghdad, was not just a library but a vibrant hub of intellectual exchange, where scholars from all walks of life worked together to push the boundaries of human understanding. The Muslim world’s emphasis on meritocracy, open inquiry, and cross-cultural dialogue laid the foundation for the European Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution.
Today, as we witness the rise of open-source AI and the spirit of collective leadership of Eastern innovators, we are reminded of this historical precedent. Just as the Islamic Golden Age thrived on inclusivity and collaboration, the current wave of AI breakthroughs is being driven by a similar ethos. The lesson is clear: the future of innovation belongs not to those who hoard resources or individually dominate markets, but to those who embrace diversity, share knowledge, and work together to solve humanity’s greatest challenges.
In this light, the AI race is not merely a contest of technological prowess but a reflection of deeper cultural and philosophical values. Whether it’s the Confucian collectivism driving China’s -or rather Pan-Asian's open-source upheaval or the spirit of inclusivity that defined the Islamic Golden Age, history shows us that the most transformative innovations emerge from societies that prioritise collaboration over competition, and openness over exclusion. As we stand on the brink of a new era of AI-driven transformation, these lessons from the past offer a roadmap for building a future that is not only technologically advanced but also equitable and inclusive.
Takeaways for Europe
In the face of the current political challenges from across the Atlantic, Europe has a unique opportunity to harness its robust academic and technological sectors and buy itself a strategic ticket on the Asian AI Bullet Train.
By opening up to and fostering collaborations with Eastern AI leaders, Europe can fast-track its own AI capabilities while promoting responsible and ethical AI development. This approach not only positions Europe to benefit from cutting-edge AI innovations but also ensures that such advancements align with its societal values and regulatory standards. Embracing this strategy could enable Europe to navigate geopolitical complexities effectively and secure a significant role in shaping the global AI landscape.
One ethical question remains though: as much as open source seems to be the right path for AI technology development today, should we now be focused on slowing down its pace and making sure we better understand the consequences of its outputs? Can we harness the collective wisdom of open source collaboration to address this concern? - It's complicated! However, even though Europe has not fully onboarded that AI train yet, it can safely claim to have an answer to that question, and that's a good thing. We probably should start by stopping to call this an AI race altogether. It sets the wrong premise.
References:
Trump announces a $500 billion AI infrastructure investment in the US
Chinese DeepSeek sparks global AI sell-off, Nvidia loses about $593bn of value
US tech stocks lose $1trillion after China’s AI launch: industry reaction
The Islamic Golden Age: A Story of the Triumph of the Islamic Civilization
The Transmission of Greek and Arabic Learning to the West
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