<\/p>\n
Against the odds, some\u00a0in China are questioning the top-down\u00a0push to get aboard the artificial intelligence hype train. In a tightly controlled media environment where these experts can easily be drowned out, it\u2019s important to listen to them. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Across the US and Europe, loud voices inside and outside the tech industry are urging caution about AI\u2019s rapid acceleration, pointing to labor market threats or more catastrophic risks. But in China, this chorus has been\u00a0largely muted, until now. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
China has the highest\u00a0global share of people who say AI tools have more benefits than drawbacks, and they\u2019ve shown an eagerness to embrace it. And as I\u2019ve written before, it\u2019s hard to overstate the exuberance in the tech sector since the emergence of DeepSeek\u2019s market-moving reasoning model earlier this year. Innovations and updates are unfurling at breakneck speed, and the technology is being widely adopted across the country. But not everyone\u2019s on board. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Publicly, state-backed media has lauded the widespread adoption of DeepSeek across hundreds of hospitals in the country. But a group of medical researchers tied to Tsinghua University published a paper in the medical journal JAMA in late April gently questioning if this was happening \u201ctoo fast, too soon.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It argued that health-care institutions are facing pressure from \u201csocial media discourse\u201d to implement DeepSeek in order to not appear \u201ctechnologically backward.\u201d And doctors are increasingly reporting patients who \u201cpresent DeepSeek-generated treatment recommendations and insist on adherence to these AI-formulated care plans.\u201d The team argued that as much as AI has shown potential to help in the medical field, this rushed rollout carries risks.\u00a0They are right to be cautious. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But it\u2019s not just the doctors who are raising doubts. A separate paper from AI scientists at the same university, last month found that some of the breakthroughs behind reasoning models \u2014 including DeepSeek\u2019s R1, as well as similar offerings from Western tech giants \u2014\u00a0may not be as revolutionary as some have claimed. The team found that the novel training method used for this new crop\u00a0\u201cis not as powerful as previously believed,\u201d according to a social media post from the lead author. The method used to power them \u201cdoesn\u2019t enable the model to solve problems that the base model can\u2019t solve,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This means the innovations underpinning what has been widely dubbed as the next step \u2014 toward achieving so-called Artificial General Intelligence \u2014 may not be as much of a leap\u00a0as some had hoped.\u00a0This research from Tsinghua holds extra weight: The\u00a0institution is one of the pillars of the domestic AI scene, long churning out both keystone research and ambitious startup founders.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Another easily overlooked word of warning came from a speech given by Zhu Songchun, dean of the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence, linked to Peking University. Zhu said that for the nation to remain competitive it needs more substantive research and less laudatory headlines, according to an in-depth English-language analysis of his remarks published by the independent China Media Project. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
These cautious voices are a rare break from the broader narrative. But in a landscape where\u00a0the deployment of AI has\u00a0long been government priority, it makes them especially noteworthy.\u00a0The more President Xi Jinping signals that embracing the technology is important, the less likely people are to publicly question it. This can lead to less overt forms of backlash, like social media hashtags on Weibo poking fun at chatbots\u2019 errors. Or it can result in data centers quietly sitting unused across the country as local governments race to please Beijing \u2014 as well as\u00a0a mountain of AI PR stunts. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Perhaps the biggest headwind facing the sector,\u00a0despite the massive amounts of spending, is that AI still hasn\u2019t altered the earnings outlooks at most of the Chinese tech firms. The money can\u2019t lie. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This doesn\u2019t mean that AI in China is just\u00a0propaganda.\u00a0The conflict extends far beyond its tech sector \u2014\u00a0US firms\u00a0are also guilty of getting carried away promoting the technology. But multiple things can be true at once. It\u2019s undeniable that DeepSeek has fueled new excitement, research and major developments across the AI ecosystem. But it\u2019s also been used as a distraction from the domestic macroeconomic pains that predated the trade war. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Without guardrails, the risk of rushing out the technology\u00a0is greater\u00a0than just investors losing money \u2014\u00a0people\u2019s health is at stake. From Hangzhou to Silicon Valley, the more we ignore the voices questioning the AI hype train, the more we blind ourselves to consequences of a potential derailment. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
More From Bloomberg Opinion:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Catherine Thorbecke is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia tech. Previously she was a tech reporter at CNN and ABC News. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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