Who’s really winning the AI race? It’s Not Just About Building the Best Model

In recent years, we have seen remarkable advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), with the best-known company in the field - the American OpenAI - making many of the headlines. However, competitor DeepSeek, a Chinese start-up, reached a benchmark last February at a high fraction of the cost.

Nevertheless, perhaps the real winner in this technological race is not who creates the best models, but rather who manages to use these tools effectively for the benefit of government, organizations and society.

In the book Technology and the Rise of Great Powers, the author - university professor Jeffrey Ding - investigates the ability of states to successfully adapt and disseminate these innovations in their economies, as opposed to their ability to introduce them first.

Although there is still no global, consolidated data on the adoption rate of AI by country, it is already possible to see some relevant indications. One example is the Artificial Intelligence Preparedness Index (AIPI), a ranking drawn up by the International Monetary Fund that assesses the readiness of 174 countries to embrace AI solutions.

In this same document, it should be noted that China appears, incredibly, in only 31st place. However, it's important to ask ourselves how the Red Dragon is actually positioning itself, and will position itself, in terms of the practical usability of Artificial Intelligence.

In reality, the state led by Xi Jinping has stood out as one of the main drivers in this area. According to The Economist magazine, the public sector is responsible for around half of DeepSeek's demand, using AI to answer citizens' questions or locate missing persons.

And what about the end consumer? According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer study, countries such as China or Thailand have greater confidence in Artificial Intelligence, compared to economies such as the US or Canada.

The integration of this technology is also evolving significantly at company level. The renowned Lenovo (a business focused on computers, laptops and their accessories), for example, has been incorporating Artificial Intelligence agents in two critical areas: software engineering and customer service.

China's Tencent - one of the world's biggest brands operating in gaming, digital platforms, financial and cloud services, among others - has announced, according to Reuters, that it will increase its capital investment in 2025, with the aim of accelerating AI development and modernizing its infrastructure. What's more, it has already implemented DeepSeek's latest innovation in its key products, such as WeChat - known as the ‘super app’ because it combines messaging, payments and social networks and has more than a billion active users - and Yuanbao, its proprietary AI assistant.

In fact, the potential is such that we are experiencing a true multidisciplinary global race, with technology giants and large entities from various sectors reporting investments of around one billion euros in Artificial Intelligence.

Transformation roadmaps are rapidly updated to include this technology, often driven more by the urgency of not being left behind than by a clear strategic vision. The anxiety to be present on this new frontier of innovation has itself become a driving force for action.

Understanding who really leads the way when it comes to using Artificial Intelligence remains a challenge, and understanding who will be able to extract the real value from it is an even greater challenge in itself.

In the end, perhaps the winners are not those who create the most powerful models or those who simply use them, but those who use them with a clear purpose and the ability to generate lasting benefits.

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