Caixin Weekly | Sora Takes Another Step Forward (AI Translation)

财新周刊｜Sora再进阶

In the wake of OpenAI's release of Sora, a groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) generative video model, on March 11, Chinese AI startups Aishi Technology and Shengshu Technology have announced significant financing rounds aimed at developing technologies to rival or surpass Sora within months. This development underscores the rapid advancement in AI capabilities, transitioning from text and image generation to complex video creation [para. 1].

OpenAI's journey began with ChatGPT in November 2022, evolving through various iterations of its neural network architecture to achieve remarkable milestones in natural language understanding, image generation from text, and now video generation with Sora. The ability of Sora to generate videos from text prompts in under a minute represents a significant leap forward in both technology and potential commercial applications [para. 2].

The response to Sora has been enthusiastic. Since its launch on TikTok on February 15, 2024, OpenAI's account has amassed over 230,000 followers and received more than 1.4 million likes, highlighting the public's fascination with AI-generated content [para. 3]. This surge in interest mirrors the excitement around ChatGPT during China's Spring Festival in 2023, prompting companies like Aochuang Guangnian to reevaluate their product development timelines due to the rapid advancements in generative video technology [para. 4].

Despite this enthusiasm, major Chinese internet companies have adopted a more cautious approach towards investing in technologies similar to Sora. The primary bottleneck for domestic firms is computing power; no company has yet achieved the scale necessary to compete directly with Sora. This challenge is compounded by recent U.S. export controls on semiconductors to China and stringent domestic regulations [para. 5][para. 6].

Baidu CEO Robin Li emphasized an "application-driven" approach for developing video generation models during an earnings call on February 28. Market observers note that short video platforms could significantly benefit from generative videos due to their inherent demand for fresh content [para. 7]. However, there remains a considerable gap between Chinese models' capabilities and those of leading international models like Sora [para. 8].

Sora is highly regarded by OpenAI as a step towards achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), combining Transformer architecture with Diffusion models for enhanced video generation capabilities. Despite its potential, it remains a research project with no immediate plans for public release [para. 9]. The cost of training such advanced models is substantial; estimates suggest that training costs could be in the tens of millions of dollars due to the immense computational resources required [para. 10].

The film, television, and gaming industries are closely monitoring developments around Sora and similar technologies. There is recognition that AI-generated content could significantly impact production processes and content creation efficiency. Some industry insiders foresee a future where AI might replace certain roles within these industries or at least augment existing processes [para. 11][para. 12].

Chinese startups are not deterred by these challenges; Aishi Technology aims to surpass Sora within six months focusing on consumer markets (2C), while Shengshu Technology completed a new round of financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan for developing native multimodal large models capable of generating images and videos from text [para. 13][para. 14]. These efforts highlight the ongoing race among Chinese companies to close the technological gap with global leaders like OpenAI.

The emergence of technologies like Sora has prompted reassessment among Chinese internet giants regarding their strategies for catching up with overseas advancements in AI-generated content. ByteDance appears most likely among domestic firms to develop a short video application akin to Sora but faces challenges related to computing power availability and regulatory constraints [para. 15][para. 16].

Overall, while there is optimism about bridging the technological divide with innovations like Sora within China's tech ecosystem, significant hurdles remain concerning computational resources, regulatory environment, and practical application scenarios that need addressing before these ambitious goals can be realized fully[para. 17][para. 18].