As U.S. plots a ban on TikTok, the video sharing sensation, China has thrown confusion by making it very clear: you can sell TikTok but you cannot sell the AI which makes it what it is. Yes, China is banning the export of special AI. Interestingly, it is the AI that companies like Microsoft, Oracle, etc are actually racing to lay their hands on. Everyone knows the ingredients in the TikTok soup is the good stockfish of AI which China is the world’s leader when it is prepared on mobile for the consumer village square. Without that AI, it is just another boring short video dumping site!
China announced new restrictions on artificial-intelligence technology exports that could further complicate the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations, while intensifying the tech battle between the world’s two largest economies.
The new restrictions, unveiled Friday by China’s ministries in charge of commerce and science and technology, cover such computing and data-processing technologies as text analysis, content recommendation, speech modeling and voice-recognition.
Here is the explanation.
The company is concerned that the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology jointly announced the “Announcement on Adjusting and Issuing the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted to Export” on August 28. The company will strictly abide by the “Regulations on the Administration of Technology Import and Export of the People’s Republic of China” and “China The Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited from Exporting and Restricted Exports deals with related businesses related to technology export.
Now, you know what is happening: Reels can go and win via Instagram but the consensus is that Reels is not as cool as TikTok. China wants it that way: keep the ingredients of AI home. Pity ByteDance (TikTok’s parent) investors: they are between a deep blue sea and a devil here.
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Apparently China is confirming what the US has always suspected it to be, this very well plays into Trump’s talking point, so I am not sure how he’s bothered that China is withholding a special AI, he’s even ready to throw everything away.
But it’s also a nice challenge for local developers, whenever geopolitics tends to upend the technological world order, it serves as opportunity for local innovators to ensure that a fine alternative is presented, so that the party can continue unencumbered.
If what makes TikTok attractive is removed from the deal, then the whole jostling to purchase it would collapse, and TikTok will become history in some places.
We should be more concerned about the products we develop here that are equally competitive, we don’t even have anything that get global politicians talking; that’s a great sign that you can rattle the world. This is the sort of thing we should be aiming for, and not looking to copy ordinary things that can only attract a yawn.
Game on…