中国打出组合拳，冲击美国AI主导地位

中国领先的AI公司正在加大对硅谷的压力，月之暗面（Moonshot）和阿里巴巴先后发布模型，声称能够与OpenAI和Anthropic的最强模型正面交锋，而成本仅为其一小部分。接二连三的发布表明，美国在AI前沿的领先优势正日益吃紧，而这项技术正成为国家安全、经济实力和地缘政治影响力的核心。

首轮攻势来自北京公司月之暗面AI，这是中国领先的AI模型开发商之一，该公司于周五发布了 Kimi K3。月之暗面声称，自己的测试显示该模型始终高于几乎所有美国系统，仅落后于 OpenAI 的 GPT-5.6 Sol 和 Anthropic 的 Claude Fable 5，但在某些基准测试中胜出。

上周末，中国科技巨头阿里巴巴紧随其后，预览了 Qwen3.8 新模型，该公司称其是“one of the most powerful model[s] available today”，并且“second only to Fable 5”——Anthropic 的旗舰模型。

两家公司都强调了与美国领先实验室的一个关键区别：他们没有将最先进的模型锁在封闭大门之后，而是将其公开提供。虽然一些美国公司，尤其是 Meta，采取了类似做法，但发布开发者可以免费下载、修改和构建的模型，日益成为中国AI行业的一个差异化优势。

月之暗面将 Kimi K3 描述为全球最大的开源AI系统，拥有2.8万亿参数。参数数量是衡量模型训练期间复杂度的指标，并大致反映其规模和性能，尽管更大并不总是意味着更好。阿里巴巴表示 Qwen3.8 是一个2.4万亿参数模型，且“continuously evolving”。OpenAI 和 Anthropic 都未披露其领先模型的确切参数数量。

在这些中国模型完整发布并经过独立测试之前，仍难以评估它们的实际能力。月之暗面表示，将在一周后的7月27日发布完整模型权重——即 AI 模型训练期间学习到的内部数值。阿里巴巴表示 Qwen3.8 “going open-weight soon”。

即便如此，这些发布已经加剧了美中之间这场被反复称为我们这个时代决定性技术竞赛的竞争。它们以自去年 DeepSeek 推出低成本模型挑战美国领先系统以来未曾见过的方式震动了行业。这些模型还引发了疑问：美国公司在芯片、数据中心和模型训练上投入的巨额资金是否能够确保持久优势，特别是如果中国竞争对手能用更少的资源接近——甚至超越——这一前沿。

两个高性能中国模型被放出供他人下载和适配的前景，也与美国实验室更为保守的做法形成鲜明对比，后者的最先进系统仍为专有。而这种开放性正值华盛顿迅速采取行动限制对底层技术的全球访问之际。美国政府已利用出口管制限制中国获得最先进芯片，并因担心其可能帮助外国竞争对手追赶，迫使 Anthropic 将最强大的系统撤出市场。

这些新的中国模型是否名副其实还有待观察。但，如同之前的 DeepSeek 一样，它们很可能会加剧美中之间的技术竞争，影响经济与国家安全政策，并表明美国的领先优势远没有过去看上去那么宽广。

China’s leading AI companies are ramping up the pressure on Silicon Valley, as Moonshot and Alibaba unveiled models they claim can go toe-to-toe with the best from OpenAI and Anthropic at a fraction of the cost. The rapid-fire releases suggest America’s lead at the AI frontier is increasingly tight, just as the technology is becoming central to national security, economic power, and geopolitical influence.

The opening salvo came from Beijing-based Moonshot AI, one of China’s leading AI model developers, which unveiled Kimi K3 on Friday. Moonshot claims its own testing ranks it consistently above nearly every US system, trailing only OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol and Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5, though it came out ahead on certain benchmarks.

Over the weekend, Chinese tech behemoth Alibaba followed with a preview of Qwen3.8, a new model it says is “one of the most powerful model[s] available today” and “second only to Fable 5,” Anthropic’s flagship model.

Both companies are emphasizing a key difference from the leading US labs: Rather than locking their most advanced models behind closed doors, they are making them publicly available. While some US companies, most notably Meta, have taken a similar approach, releasing models that developers can freely download, modify, and build upon has become a growing point of differentiation for China’s AI industry.

Moonshot describes Kimi K3 as the world’s largest open-source AI system, with 2.8 trillion parameters. Parameter counts are measures of a model’s complexity during training and offer a rough indication of its scale and performance, though bigger does not always mean better. Alibaba says Qwen3.8 is a 2.4 trillion parameter model and “continuously evolving.” Neither OpenAI nor Anthropic disclose exact parameter counts for their leading systems.

It remains difficult to assess how capable either Chinese model is until they are fully released and independently tested. Moonshot says it will release full model weights — the internal numerical learned during an AI model’s training period — a week from now on July 27th. Alibaba says Qwen3.8 is “going open-weight soon.”

Even so, the releases have already sharpened competition between the US and China in what has been repeatedly characterized as the defining technological race of our time. They have shaken up the industry in a way not seen since DeepSeek unveiled a low-cost model last year that rivaled leading US systems. The models also raise questions about whether the vast sums of money US companies are pouring into chips, data centers, and model training can secure a durable advantage, particularly if Chinese rivals can approach — or surpass — that frontier with fewer resources.

The prospect of two highly capable Chinese models being released for others to download and adapt also contrasts starkly with the more guarded approach of US labs, whose most advanced systems remain proprietary. That openness emerges even as Washington moves rapidly to restrict global access to the underlying technology. The government has used export controls to restrict China’s access to the most advanced chips, as well as to force Anthropic to pull its most capable system from the market over concerns it could help foreign competitors catch up.

Whether the new Chinese models live up to their creator’s claims remains to be seen. But, like DeepSeek before them, they are likely to sharpen the technological rivalry between the US and China, influence economic and national security policy, and show that America’s lead is far narrower than it once appeared.