China's AI Rise: Innovation Outpaces the Distillation Narrative

While distillation has been blamed for much of China's AI progress, observers including Cohere's Aidan Gomez say China is advancing through independent innovation and sometimes surpassing U.S. models; industry rivals and U.S. officials argue distillation matters, but a growing chorus contends it is only part of the story. China's rapid progress is anchored by a large talent pool, government support, and leaner compute due to chip restrictions, signaling the AI gap with the U.S. may be closing beyond copying.