China's AI+ era: DeepSeek's 'open-resource' approach revolutionizing global ecosystem

China's "AI Plus initiative" has been highlighted in the government work report during this year's Two Sessions for the second consecutive year. As the country continues to promote artificial intelligence (AI) integration across industries, a quiet shift has been unfolding, and its impact could revolutionize the global open-source ecosystem. Through companies like DeepSeek, which opened its large language model to global developers, China is redefining what it means to lead in the AI era by democratizing access to transformative tools.

Wang Jian, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, describes the transformation as a shift from "open source code" to "open-resource innovation."

"DeepSeek has changed the landscape of large language model," Wang told CGTN, adding that the gesture is "a very significant contribution to the world and to the tech community."

"With DeepSeek, a lot of other technology from China will be open to the rest of the world," said Wang, who's also the president of the Hangzhou-based Zhijiang Lab and the founder of Alibaba Cloud in east China's Zhejiang Province.

"Millions of people around the world could do a lot of innovation things. Probably the people at the DeepSeek could never imagine."

Empowering global developers and SMEs

Apart from DeepSeek, other Chinese companies have also embraced open-source innovation. Alibaba's Qwen, for instance, has been open to everyone for years, providing small businesses and developers with reliable, long-term foundation models.

"This is particularly helpful for small business or developers because they have very limited resource to build their own foundation model," Wang explained.

HarmonyOS, or Hongmeng in Chinese, is among the open-source operating systems. First launched in August 2019, it is designed for various devices and scenarios, including smart screens, tablets, wearables and cars.

According to data from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), more than 70 organizations have joined the HarmonyOS ecosystem, with over 8,100 individuals contributing to the code.

"At the end of the day, having more people to think about the application is critical," said Wang.

During the Two Sessions, representatives and committee members emphasized the need to continue efforts in ​industrial empowerment, terminal applications and scenario cultivation to drive AI integration across various sectors.

Lei Jun, founder and CEO of China's tech giant Xiaomi, expressed his commitment to embedding AI into end products "to enable consumers to experience the wonderful life brought by technology." Lei made the remarks while speaking to the media at the Deputies' Corridor before the opening of the third session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

According to CPPCC member Liu Lianxin from the First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China, the hospital has recently completed the ​localized deployment of DeepSeek's AI model. The move is expected to provide ​fast and accurate diagnostic suggestions for primary care physicians, significantly improving healthcare efficiency and accessibility in rural and underserved areas.

China's home appliance giant Haier Group has proposed a survival rule for traditional home appliance manufacturers. ​Zhou Yunjie, an NPC deputy and Chairman of Haier Group's Board of Directors, believes that AI opens up new possibilities for ​​"Made in China" to become "Intelligently Made in China." 

China now ranks second globally in the number of open-source contributors, according to a report presented by (MIIT) at the recent Global Developers Conference (GDC) in Shanghai.

Meanwhile, the number of high-quality open-source large models, open-source projects and open-source communities continues to grow, driving the vigorous development of the artificial intelligence industry.

MIIT data shows that China's software developers have exceeded 9.4 million as of 2024. Meanwhile, a report by the Cloud Computing Standards and Open Source Promotion Committee under the China Communications Standards Association reveals that Chinese projects now account for 17 percent of global open-source software, ranking China second worldwide.

Reporter: Yang Xinmeng

Cameraman: Qi Jianqiang