Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on a podcast that China trails the U.S. in the AI race by about six months, but could still win because its strategy offers products for free. He argued that Chinese AI models are often free or cheaper, which could attract users in developing economies, and credited China's progress partly to chips he said were pilfered or smuggled into the country, as well as to distillation of Western AI systems. Schmidt rejected comparisons between AI and a speculative bubble, pointing to Anthropic's revenue growth and paying customers as evidence of real demand. The article also cites IMD professor Howard Yu, who said the U.S. lead could prove perishable since many users do not need the most advanced models, and Polsia AI CEO Ben Cera, who said the bubble lies in the price of AI rather than AI itself.
Summary written by Upside AI from the original article. Read the source for full details.
Original headline: Google’s Ex-CEO Says China Trails US by 6 Months in AI Race, but Could Still Win Due to This Strategy: ‘We’re Already Losing’
Read the original on Yahoo Finance ↗
Keywords
artificial intelligenceChinaUSAI bubbleAnthropic
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Related tickers and likely impact
GOOGL
• NeutralAlphabet Inc. (Class A)
Relevance: low
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Communication Services |
| Industry | Interactive Media & Services |
| Market cap | $4.0T |
| Close on 10/23/2026 | 320.21 |
| Change that session | -1.24% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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