Experts at the 6th United States-China Hong Kong Forum on Monday have predicted that AI will transform the global economy, with open-source models emerging as the dominant force in innovation and market reach.
While highlighting AI’s potential, speakers at the forum themed ‘Circles for Peace’, also cautioned about its risks, emphasizing the need for a human-centered approach to prevent widening gaps in knowledge and opportunity.
“AI is going to bring the largest GDP increase in the world because it fundamentally makes machines think smarter than we do,” said Kai-Fu Lee, CEO of 01.AI, a company developing open-source AI models. “AI, powered by large language models, now combines a brilliant liberal arts mind, a mathematics genius, and a computer programming supersta, all in one.”
Lee, formerly president of Google Greater China, revealed that approximately 90 percent of the code produced at 01.AI is written by AI rather than humans, representing “a tenfold increase in productivity” for software engineers globally, a scale unimaginable five years ago.
“AI is an incredible propeller of the global economy and will create trillions of dollars in value”, Lee added, noting that both American and Chinese companies are positioned to benefit.
He emphasized open-source AI, models that can be copied, improved, and freely used, as the “future”, comparing it to the difference between Windows and Linux, or Apple’s macOS/iOS and Android.
Lee further noted that China currently holds 64 percent of the AI model market share, compared with 30 percent for the US. “The most profitable companies will be closed-source players charging a premium, but the largest market share will belong to open-source models”, he said.
The forum also addressed AI’s risks and stressed the importance of international cooperation to ensure responsible and equitable development of the technology.
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