achieving

The US is obsessed with achieving General Artificial Intelligence before China. China couldn’t care less

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The promise of the AGI has become the “the wolf is coming” from some AI companies. The gurus of American AI companies do not stop hype with the long-awaited general artificial intelligencethe one that will surpass humans in all areas of knowledge. Meanwhile, In China it doesn’t seem to matter too much. The AGI gap. Elon Musk, Dario Amodei, Sam Altman…everyone agrees that the AGI is about to fall, or so they have said at some point. We cannot know how close they are, what we do know is that to achieve AGI they need more computing power, for which they need a lot (more) money. The AGI as a justification for an insane investment. They count in High Capacity that China barely mentions AGI in its 2025 AI+ initiative nor did it mention it in the ‘Next Generation AI Development Plan’ 2018. AI is a strategic technology of great importance, but they focus on specific applications such as industrial automation, autonomous driving or robotics. Transformative, yes, but not turning points that will change the world completely. Whoever arrives first wins (or not). It’s American logic in this race. To achieve this, they are betting everything on one horse and AGI is the goal. If they arrive before, they will obtain an insurmountable economic and military advantage: they will have won. On the other hand, if China arrives before, the power relationship would change completely. The truth is that things have to go a lot wrong for the US to not win this race. The problem is that, while they are making this titanic effort, China is beating them on other fronts such as the electric car, industrial robotics, drones, solar panels… Win the AI ​​battle, but lose the economic war. China is calm. Why aren’t China so excited about AGI? To begin with, it is not so clear that scaling the models is the fastest route to AGI and that requires a gigantic investment with no guarantees. But above all it is because they do not buy the idea of ​​”arriving first”; Even if the US overtakes them, they can simply copy them and catch up quickly. Yao Shunyu said itchief AI scientist at Tencent: “History shows that once a technical pathway is validated, Chinese teams can quickly replicate it and even surpass it in specific areas, such as electric vehicles or manufacturing.” The question is not so much who gets there first, but who makes the best use of it. Who does talk about AGI in China. Yao Shunyu’s statements occurred within the framework of the AGI-Next Summit, where several leaders of Chinese AI companies met to talk about the future of the sector. Figures such as the founder of DeepSeek, the CEO of Ziphu or the founder of Moonshot have talked about their goal being to achieve AGI, although they have not shared many more details. Maybe the company that Alibaba has gone deeperwhich gave a presentation detailing its plans to achieve superintelligence (ASI). These leaders, like those of American companies, may have commercial motivations in these statements, but there are other organizations in China that are investigating this field such as the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence or the Chongqing Institute for General AI. There are initiatives, but there is nowhere near the level of obsession that they have in the US. A restful strategy. While the US hoards chips and scales like crazy, in China they are choosing to do it more slowly. They are prioritizing national chips and open source with the idea of ​​promoting the adoption of their models. It is a more long-term vision. A long distance race, not a sprint. In Xataka | There is a city in China that goes head to head with Silicon Valley: welcome to Hangzhou, the home of the ‘Six Little Dragons’ Image | Steve Johnson in Unsplash

The sun never set in the Spanish empire. AI is achieving that in some companies neither

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There was a time when the Spanish empire did not set the sun. Their domains ranged from the colonies in America, to Europe and Southeast Asia. In the 21st century, global technology startups are recovering that model to develop your AI-based products 24 hours a day. When a team in San Francisco is finishing its work shift, its work continues in Europe, and then moves on to Asia, ensuring that development does not stop. The “follow the sun” model is not new, but the combination of distributed remote work and the development of AI has turned it into a formula to stay ahead of the competition, without exhausting the workforce. The IBM empire in the 90s. In the 90s, IBM was an empire on which the sun did not set either. He IBM giant was one of the first to try the “follow the sun” model (Follow The Sun or FTS) with a team of five offices spread over different time slots to chain days and shorten software development times. This model is based on the concatenation of days. Each group works during its normal day. When this ends in an office, the day begins in the next time slot that collects the witness of the work of his colleagues. The process is repeated throughout the day, synchronizing the journey of the star through the sky with the different work days throughout the planet. Although in principle this model ran into some difficulties due to the poor performance of the connection networks of the time, IBM refined the process and managed to reduce projects by up to 67% by coordinating three offices in the United States, Australia and India. A model that makes sense with AI. Today, Silicon Valley has stepped on the accelerator pedal of AI and new startup founders technologies have embraced days “996” in which all hours of the day that are dedicated to product development they are few. As and as I pointed out analyst and software engineering expert Gergely Orosz, in the context of high competitiveness in the development of AI models experienced by the startup ecosystem on the west coast of the United States, more and more companies are choosing the “follow the sun” model to add normal days for teams in different countries. Thus, a model designed in Europe is tested on equipment in Asia at night and reviewed in California the next morning. The development machinery does not stop. Global clients, local attention. Likewise, the clients of these technology companies are spread all over the world, so offering a technical support service is complicated if it has to be done from a single location. According to data From Zendesk, 73% of customers switch to competitors due to bad experiences with support servicesso the distributed remote system allows the change of time slot so that the service adapts to the languages ​​and local culture of each region. The user who needs help always speaks to someone during their normal hours, no matter where they live. ​The push for AI and remote work. The rise of AI has improved the efficiency of the system at its most critical moment: shift change. This was one of the points that was most difficult for IBM managers to polish in the 90s. AI tools have helped unite shifts with chatbots that resolve doubts to employees, agents who summarize conversations with customers, prepare error reports or give solution ideas based on the context of the information that has been collected throughout the shifts, so as not to lose details when changing teams. Companies that have opted for this model in which the sun does not set highlight that products are developed faster, there are fewer unresolved cases by the support service and customers see the company as always available. Companies, especially technology companies, opted for elimination of teleworking and back to the office. However, no one said that this office should be on the same continent as that of their colleagues. A new evolution of remote work. In Xataka | Three Spanish companies tell us how they fared after implementing a work utopia: the four-day week Image | Unsplash (James Harrison)

We have been dreaming of stopping aging for centuries. The question is if we are finally achieving it: Crossover 1×37

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Myths such as that of the fountain of eternal youth have helped human beings through the ages. let’s dream of not aging and living forever. Reality is still cruel: Although life expectancy has increased, we age without seeming to slow it down. But there are those who argue that there may be. In this episode we have spoken with Dr. José Hernández, longevity expert and founder of a clinic specialized in Age Reversal, to understand what aging really is, why it is considered a disease today, and what technologies could allow us to go back biologically. In this debate we talk about information theory and epigenetic damage, cellular reprogramming, or how there are already large companies —and some billionaires— investing significantly in this. In fact, the most advanced science is accompanied by methods that seem much more effective not so much in slowing down aging but in ensuring that our physical condition is much better when this process affects us: Physical exercise is an absolute pillar of longevityassures this expert. Of course there are other factors that influence – diet and genetics, of course, do – but we are dealing with a question that has opened numerous avenues of research, some of which are promising. Who knows what can happen. On YouTube | Crossover In Xataka | Don’t tell me your age, tell me your grip strength: how simple gestures tell us how well we are aging

Science is on the verge of achieving something that would end our human experience as we knew it: suffering

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The Holy Grail of modern pain medicine has always been the same: achieving the analgesic power of morphine without its side effects such as respiratory depression, addiction or tolerance. And although until now it seemed impossible, one study has suggested that the key is not to ‘numb’ the body, but to ‘attack’ the way the brain processes suffering. The study. A team led by Gregory Corder of the University of Pennsylvania has developed a gene therapy that acts as a “switch” for chronic pain. What is revolutionary is not just that it works, but how it does it: it eliminates the emotional distress of pain without erasing the protective physical sensation, keeping the patient safe but free from suffering. The problem is not feeling, it is suffering. Pain has two very clear components: one that is sensory, which is necessary to human survival (as it is to withdraw the hand when we get burned), and the other is the affective or the emotional. This second is what generates the feeling of constant suffering that can destroy the quality of life of a patient who lives with chronic pain or neuropathic pain that affects the nervous system, such as the hated ‘sciatica’. According to the study, titled, the researchers identified a specific group of neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). These neurons are sensitive to opioids and are responsible for encoding the “unpleasantness” of pain, and this is where they have tried to attack, but surgically and without pills. The tool used. The scientists used a tool known as DREADD (Designer Receptors Activated Exclusively by Designer Drugs). To do this, through a viral vector, they inserted synthetic receptors specifically into the cingulate cortex neurons of mice with neuropathic pain. From there, they administered a drug that has no effect called DCZ. This compound, despite not doing anything to the body in mice, acts as a key that “turns off” the neurons that have been modified in their brain in a very specific way. The result. The chronic pain behavior disappeared and they began to act like completely healthy animals. However, when exposed to an acute thermal stimulus, they were able to withdraw their paw. In this way, his survival system was working, but his anxiety system was completely turned off. The AI ​​that reads pain. One of the biggest challenges in pain research is that mice can’t tell us “it hurts a 7 out of 10,” which is why scientists classically relied on biased tests. But this is over thanks to an AI called LUPEwhich is a Deep Learning platform and has the ability to analyze hundreds of hours of video of mice moving freely. But what is relevant here is that it has the ability to detect spontaneous micro-behaviors associated with pain that the human eye would miss. Thanks to LUPE, the team was able to objectively confirm that the pain relief was real and not an error of human interpretation. The opioid crisis. The most promising thing about the study published a few days ago is the security profile. Unlike morphine, which generates tolerance, that is, more and more doses of medication are needed to have an effect, and addiction, this gene therapy is completely the opposite. In this way, it does not generate addiction, meaning that the mouse does not have to seek a higher dose to maintain that sensation and the effect remained stable. The arrival of humans. Although the success in mice is resounding, the jump to humans is complex, since we are really different and requires many more safety studies. However, the path is set. The team is already planning the next steps towards clinical trials, although it is something that may take many years to become a reality in our daily lives. Images | Sasun Bughdaryan In Xataka | We have accepted that sport is “medicine” for the body. Now science is discovering its side effects

China activated a renewable “Marshall Plan” in 2011. It is achieving more than just decarbonizing the planet

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Between 1948 and 1952, United States destination 13.3 billion dollars at the time to rebuild Western Europe after the Second World War. This strategy was called the ‘Marshall Plan’. China has its own Marshall Plan, one focused on accelerating the development of ‘green’ technologies on a global scale. And it is redrawing the energy map of developing countries. The Green Marshall Plan. It is estimated that, since 2011, China has invested a whopping $227 billion in more than 450 new energy manufacturing projects. Of that amount, around 88% are concentrated from 2022, which shows an impressive acceleration in its roadmap. BRI. One of the centerpieces of the Xi Jinping government’s foreign policy is the Belt and Road Initiative, or “Belt and Road Initiative“The idea was to create a new concept of international relations based on free trade that took the ancient Silk Road as a model (something that China has taken up). Much of this investment in green energy is going to the countries that are part of the BRI, and only in 2024 will China invested 11.8 billion dollars in green energy. In the first six months of 2025, investment was 9.7 billion, which shows another acceleration in the expansion of its green policy beyond its borders. Overproduction as a lever of change. And, if the question is “why,” the answer is “because they can.” Although China continues to extract coal yqwants to become an oil powerhas also strongly supported the renewable energy sector. So much so that they have achieved an overwhelming manufacturing advantage compared to the West. HE esteem that China produces 80% of the world’s solar panels, 75% of lithium batteries and 70% of wind turbines. They have such strong internal competition that their companies have had to create a kind of OPEC to avoid stepping on each other. And, of course, this enormous production has collapsed the market: solar panels have rock-bottom priceshave crushed Western competition and these low prices allow developing countries or countries that want to change their energy model to do so at a lower cost than a few years ago. Proper names. In 2024, China exported technologies related to renewables (panels, turbines, batteries and electric vehicles) worth 177 billion dollars, which is equivalent to 5% of its total exports. Being the factory of the worldit’s outrageous. But of that figure, 72 billion were allocated to developing countries. And not only because those countries are buying from China, but because China is investing, directly, in them. An example is Ethiopia. In 2024, they banned the importation of new gasoline cars with the aim of betting on new energy ones. But at the same time, between 2011 and 2018, China invested 4 billion in the Ethiopian energy sector, with multiple wind farms or the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. This year, another 500 million dollars have ended up in solar manufacturing plants: Chinese companies are establishing themselves in those countries. Another example is Moroccowith battery factories from chinese manufacturers to feed electric cars. In general, China is moving through Africa supporting this energy transition of countries traditionally very dependent on fossil fuels, but they are not leaving empty-handed: they are also building infrastructures that allow them to exploit mines of critical materials, a fundamental leg of the Chinese technological business and geopolitics. China’s ‘Great Solar Wall’ in 2017 And in December 2024 Brazil, like China. HE esteem that 90% of the solar panels installed in Africa are Chinese, and they are also expanding throughout Latin America. On the one hand, with influence: they build infrastructure and are becoming a key player in the railway rebirth of South America. On the other hand, they are installing factories in several countries. And there Brazil has moved very intelligently. The country increased tariffs on all automobile imports to force something that China itself did years ago when Western manufacturers wanted to enter the country: to open factories in its territory. BYD or Great Wall Motors are setting up plants in Brazil. Strange bedfellows. And then there is India. Diplomatic relations between both countries are not at their best and, in fact, India is taking advantage of any excuse to remind China that they also have military muscle. However, on the other side of those tensions, we find a country that is experiencing explosive growth in renewable capacitygoing from 190 GW installed to almost 500 GW projected by 2030. And what is making that change possible is the cmassive purchase of renewable technologies to China. India buys 17% of the solar cells that China exports, which creates a brutal technological dependency, as well as a dilemma: they need green energy with immediate availability, but they also want to develop their own industrial capabilities. And this overproduction in China, with such low prices, makes the goal of national manufacturing less attractive. Taking the role of the US. And, precisely, it was during the COP30 held a few days ago in Brazil, where China’s role was highlighted. In a report by The New York Times point out how, in the Paris Agreement, rich countries relied on poorer ones to begin taking measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In some cases, it remained a simple promise while developing countries claimed their right to industrialization, something for which they have been using fossil fuels. China has seen the gap and thanks to cheap renewables, these developing countries can continue their industrialization in a more environmentally friendly way. And we go back to what we did before: China presenting itself as a pillar of global stability in an event in which the United States has not made an appearance. And while Europe and the US analyze what to do, China continues to expand its influence. Images | POT, Korea Aerospace Research Institute In Xataka | China is the largest power in renewables. Now you have a problem: what to do with all those used turbines and plates

Renfe is achieving 96% punctuality in its service. But not in Spain, but in Mecca

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While AVE customers in Spain are very familiar with the wave of service delays, especially during this last summerRenfe boasts in Saudi Arabia of figures that seem from another world: more than 96% punctuality and “anecdotal” cancellations in the high-speed service that operates between Mecca and Medina, according to the company. The truth is that the Haramain High-Speed ​​Railway numbers contrast with what we have here in Spain. The Saudi showcase of Renfe. The Spanish company leads the consortium that manages this pioneering high-speed train in Saudi Arabia, responsible for the complete operation: from driving to ticket sales. Álvaro Fernández Heredia, president of Renfe, presented these data at the Saudi International Rail in Riyadh, where he assured that the project is “one of the most successful in the world.” The figures that Renfe displays outside the home. The Haramain connects Mecca and Medina over 453 kilometers, with stops at Jeddah and the international airport. According to Renfe, since its inauguration in October 2018, the service has transported 29.2 million passengers, with a year-on-year growth of 20%. In the last year, the operator claims to have achieved more than 96% punctuality, measured with a margin of up to five minutes late, and operated 70,000 consecutive services without a single cancellation. The litmus test of Ramadan. Just like show According to its figures, during the March 2025 campaign, the service mobilized 1.35 million pilgrims, 40% more than the previous year. 3,410 trips were made with up to 132 trains running on the same day. The average punctuality reached 98.5% in this case, says Renfe, without recording cancellations. These are figures that are hardly seen in the company’s Spanish reports. The contrast with Spain. Last summer four out of ten high-speed trains They arrived late in Spain. Between June and August, 6,554 long-distance and AVE trains suffered delays of more than 15 minutes, according to pointed out El Mundoaffecting 2.5 million passengers. However, only three out of every hundred were able to claim compensation after tightening reimbursement conditions that Renfe applied in July 2024. Now it takes an hour of delay to obtain 50% of the ticket, when before 15 minutes were enough. Minister Óscar Puente recognized in September that the system will continue to have incidents “for at least two more years.” What’s coming now. Renfe has reaffirmed its commitment to Saudi Arabia and its ambitious Vision 2030 plan, which includes new railway projects. Among them, a high-speed line between Riyadh and Qiddiya, whose tender could be launched in the first half of 2026. Cover image | Tim Adams In Xataka | Renfe has found a scapegoat for its problems on the Madrid-Barcelona line: Talgo and its AVRIL trains

After achieving what seemed impossible, Nvidia sees his future in China threatened by something terrifying: the bureaucracy

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What is happening to Nvidia with the GPU to artificial intelligence (AI) H20 It is a real odyssey. Currently this chip is its best asset to protect its position in the Chinese market, but at the current situation it is not clear that the company led by Jensen Huang go survive In this gigantic Asian country. Interestingly, the beginnings of this GPU in China were extraordinarily promising because Their sales grew by 50% quarter to quarter since it arrived in this market in mid -2024. However, everything was complicated for Nvidia in the middle of last April. And is that the US Department of Commerce imposed new restrictions To the export to China of the H20 GPU, which in practice caused this chip to stop reaching the Chinese clients of this company. This news Nvidia’s shares sank 6% in the bag because I could no longer attend the commitments linked to the H20 GPU that it had acquired. At the beginning of July there was another unexpected turn of events. Jensen Huang met with Donald Trump and got something that seemed impossible: the trade department would allow him Sell again in China the H20 chip. Since then four weeks have passed and Nvidia continues to wait. He has not yet received the export license you need to sell this GPU in China, and, According to ReutersThe problem is that the Commerce Department is mired in the bureaucracy, which has originated a delay in the concession of export licenses that has not occurred for more than 30 years. The future of Nvidia in China is in the hands of the Chinese government This delay comes at the worst time for Nvidia. Among Chinese clients who have bought great amounts of this GPU, and that presumably plan to continue doing itare Tencent, Alibaba or Bytedance. But if the Department of Commerce takes much more the delivery of the export license to NVIDIA these commercial operations could be canceled. And it is that Jensen Huang’s company has another very important open front. The CAC is responsible for the censorship and control of the contents published in the network As We explain to you last weekthe administration of the cyberspace of China, usually known as CAC for its English denomination (Cyberspace Administration of China), he has decided Thoroughly investigate the H20 GPU. This institution is the main Internet regulatory body in China and is responsible for the censorship and control of the contents published in the Network, the supervision of technology companies and compliance with the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law. The problem that Nvidia faces now is that The CAC has decided to investigate it Because he suspects that the H20 chip could incorporate a rear door of difficult location by Chinese experts. If so, the possibility of China to use this GPU could be possible. At the moment the CAC has limited himself to questioning those responsible for NVIDIA in China and ask them to demonstrate that the H20 Chip does not represent a threat to the interests and security of the country led by Xi Jinping. As expected, Nvidia has immediately responded to the Chinese authorities and is collaborating to dissipate as soon as possible the doubts that loom about the H20 chip. According to SCMPthose responsible for the company in China have assured CAC researchers that the GPUs for the develops They do not incorporate any “back door” implemented to facilitate espionage by the US government. “Cybersecurity is of vital importance for us”, has declared A NVIDIA executive. “We have no rear doors in our chips that can give someone remote access or the ability to control them.” Probably during the next few days we will know how this conflict ends. Image | Nvidia More information | Reuters In Xataka | The US gives Huawei a great opportunity: to get its new chip for AI with the Nvidia market in China

Google has been trying to create your WhatsApp. With RCS it is achieving it without it seems

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Google has been trying to create its own messaging platform to stand up to WhatsApp. Without success. He tried with Hangouts, with Alloeven with Google+. All these projects ended as Stadia, Chrome apps o Android Things: closed and forgotten. Meanwhile… Apple has consolidated Issssage as its native channel in some markets, especially in the United States. And goal has made WhatsApp the default tool to talk to anyone in the middle of the planet. Google, despite controlling More than 70% From the mobile market with Android, it did not have a direct route with its users. And that is starting to change thanks to RCS. RCS is a technical standard, not an application, designed in theory to replace the SMS and offer a more modern messaging on smartphones. Let send images and videos, have reading confirmations, creating group chats … but its reach goes beyond the interface: It is the first relevant messaging channel in the Android ecosystem that does not depend on an external app like WhatsApp or Telegram. The key is how Google has managed to position it. It has not launched a new application. Has integrated RCS directly on Google Messagesthe native messages on Android. In the United States, the deployment is almost total: more than one billion RCS messages are sent every day, according to figures announced by Google. “Only” are three messages per inhabitant and day, but something is. Google controls its infrastructure, its APIs and its evolution. And he has done it without asking the user to download anything, nor that he believes a new account. It is there. Works. And more and more people use it, often without knowing it, because they believe they continue using the SMS. But not anymore: it is a RCS controlled by Google. That final nuance is key. Because although RCS is presented as an open standard, what is growing is not a decentralized network, but an RCS with an accent of Mountain View. Google has not only promoted its deployment: it has assumed its technical control in many countries, jumping to the operators. Since in 2019 he decided to offer it directly – without waiting for telecos—RCS has gone from forgotten promise to functional channel. And now, Apple. Another silent victory: Apple has been forced to incorporate it for European regulatory pressure. That does not make Imessage interoperable, but it has eliminated the largest brake that was to the global deployment of the new standard. From there, the old SMS – with its limits and compression – has ceased to be the default language between Android and iOS. It is RCS. A more modern channel, encrypted … and with owner. And that is the real change. Google has not created its WhatsApp. He has done something more subtle: He has reconverted Android’s native messaging on his own platform. Without calling it that way. Without asking you permission. Without seeming it. In Xataka | Gemini should not be called Gemini. It should be called Google Outstanding image | Google, Xataka

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