Chinese

Renault is already pushing for Europe to copy the Chinese model

by

The statements have been as concise as they are clear: “You cannot come to Europe and build four plates with wheels and seats with little added value. What we have to do is commit them to teach us, to come with products with added value. We did not do it like that when we went to China, they should not do it when they come to Europe” The words are from Josep Maria Recasens, president of Renault Spain, and reflect in three sentences the situation that the industry is experiencing in Europe, its internal debates and its fears. Added value. This is what Recasens has demanded at the 1st Automotive Forum, organized by the Automotive Press Group to which it belongs. The Automotive Tribune. The president of Renault Spain, who is also the president of ANFAC (the manufacturers’ association in our country) has demanded that Europe force Chinese brands to associate with European ones so that they “teach us” how they make their products. In Recasens’ opinion, Europe is opening the door to Chinese brands, allowing them to build “four plates with wheels and seats with little added value.” It is a veiled statement that points to the Chinese factories that are settling in our country but that, however, plan to produce vehicles based on kits that already come pre-assembled from China. What do they teach us? When the president of Renault asks that the European Union force Chinese manufacturers “to teach us” it is for two reasons. The first is that China forced foreign manufacturers to partner with their local firms to produce on its soil. What did they earn? Obviously, knowledge. Just take a look at the MG4 Electric to understand the extent to which its partnership with Volkswagen has borne fruit. At the same time, foreign manufacturers could produce at a much lower price and had access to the largest market in the world. What, we assume, they did not imagine is that China was going to surpass the West. Yes, let them teach us. The second point referred to in “let them teach us” is evident: the president of Renault and Anfac recognizes that, at least in part, China is ahead. And the French company itself has gone to Shanghai to develop your Renault Twingoa car whose heart has been created internally in China in record time for the European industry. But there have also been curious situations such as Mazda has brought the Mazda 6e to Europea car developed by Changan in China that, given its success, they have decided to test on European soil with a groundbreaking price per size. And the warnings don’t end there. The industry has entered a fever to shorten deadlines and approaching the times of Chinese development. The consultants warn that, at the level of quality, there is no difference with the Europeans. Others warn Japanese firms that their extreme attention to detail and conservative evolutions they may have left them behind. In question. Recasens’ words also emphasize the misgivings that have arisen among European manufacturers seeing how Chinese companies are arriving on our soil. With the intention of stopping the arrival of Chinese electric cars at knockdown prices, Europe applied variable tariffs to each brand depending on the supposed help they have received from the Chinese Government in the form of soft loans or the transfer of land. The promise is that they would not pay if they manufactured in Europe. But the first factories are also in question. Chery opted for assemble car kits in Barcelona. That is, cars that arrive almost assembled from the other side of the world and to which the final touches are given in the Spanish city. Now, the European Union is studying whether or not the electric Omoda 5 has to pay tariffs by understanding that added value is not being created around the production of said car. But not only Chery. The Chery case was the first but it has not been the only one. Stéphane Séjourné, vice president for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy of the European Commission, has assured the Italian newspaper La Stampa that the institution also has the factory in its sights BYD in Hungary or the plans that CATL has in Europe (including those that has in Spain with Stellantis). According to Séjourné, “it is not right” that these companies are manufacturing their cars in Europe with Chinese components and Chinese employees, noting that their investment in creating a local network of suppliers is minimal. A good example is the CATL battery production plant in Aragón where it is expected that employ 2,000 Chinese employees. Photo | ANFAC and Renault In Xataka | Before opening its gigafactory, Zaragoza has a pending task: create a “chinatow” for 2,000 Chinese workers

A new futuristic Chinese drone has just appeared on the scene. Beijing has shown it in a video without saying a single word

by

China has decided to show its new stealth drone in the most direct way possible: iincluding it in an official video and letting the image speak for itself. The device appears rolling from a hangar and forming with two J-20, a gesture that does not require subtitles to capture attention. It is an austere presentation, almost silent, but full of intention. The movement that changes reading. The official video published by the chinese air force for its 76th anniversary, it combines historical images with recent scenes, following a format that the institution has used for years. It is a simple production piece, focused on showing some of the advances that they consider relevant at this stage. Within this general route, the final section incorporates material that until now had not been seen on official channels, among them the inclusion of the GJ-11. It is a drone that belongs to the category of flying wing stealth platforms, a design that China has been researching for years and that fits with long-distance attack missions and surveillance tasks. What is known comes from sightings at test bases and analysis of their configuration, since Beijing has not published technical specifications. Some analysts interpret that its size and architecture allow prolonged flights, but that information is not part of official statements. Is it already operational? The official video does not confirm that the GJ-11 is in service, but it does fit with the indications that point to a program in an advanced phase. In recent months there have appeared at least three units in Shigatse, an active site where China tests systems in real scenarios. The inclusion of the drone in institutional material adds another element to the chronology, although by itself it is not enough to affirm that its operational deployment is a reality. The key doubts. Despite the relevance of the video, the Chinese Air Force has not offered details about the capabilities, range, sensors or weapons of the GJ-11. There is also no data on its production rate or on possible contracts associated with the program. The footage confirms its form and activity, but does not clear up technical unknowns that allow us to understand its exact role within the operational structure. The absence of this information keeps the program partially in the shadows. The appearance of the GJ-11 in an official video does not dispel all doubts, but it does consolidate an idea: China wants the drone to be part of its public story without the need to communicate technical details. Between previous indications and recent material, the image that remains is that of an advanced program that advances at its own pace. Images | People’s Liberation Army Air Force (Weibo) In Xataka | They have just leaked Russia’s best kept secret: their “invisible” nuclear bomber has exploded into the air

Monistrol de Calders is a town of 700 residents. Now someone wants to turn it into the first Chinese cemetery in Spain

by

Monistrol de Calders is a town in the Moyanés region, in the province of Barcelona. He last census The INE places just under 800 registered residents there, a small community without the slightest trace Chinese immigration. Despite that, the lack of ties with the Asian giant or the specter of depopulation, Monistrol is about to become a prominent place on the map of the European Chinese diaspora. And for a very special reason, too. A group of investors wants to build there, in an old farmhouse, the first cemetery feng shui of Spain and one of the few that exist in Europe. The ideal candidate. Monistrol de Calders may not be a very populous municipality, but it enjoys a privileged location in the heart of the Catalan countryside, between the Pla de Bages and the Sierra de San Lorenzo. Mountain. Streams. Sources. Pine forests. ç The town is not only idyllic. Some time ago a group of Chinese investors living in Catalonia saw in it Anything else: an ideal place to give shape to a project that they had been meditating on for some time, to build a feng shui cemetery, a space in which the growing chinese immigration could watch over their dead. In Moyanés as in Qingtian. They were not only convinced by the setting, the atmosphere and the location of Monistrol. The mayor of the town, Arturo Argelaguer, explains to The National that the promoters liked something else: “Orographically it is very similar to the part of the country where they originate, the region of Qingtian“. The area also has a special symbolic value, since it is the place of origin of much of it of the around 350,000 people of Chinese origin who reside in Spain. That in Monistrol as such there are no neighbors from the Asian giant matters little. After all, the town is half an hour by car from Manresa and less than an hour and a half from the center of Barcelona, ​​where there is a large immigrant community. The idea of ​​building a cemetery there in which to lay vigil for their dead pleased the investors so much that in june They even invited Quingtian to a delegation led by Argelaguer. The visit culminated with a Monistrol-Dongyuan twinning. And what do they want to do? The idea is to build a multi-denominational cemetery, “open to all”, although following the guidelines of feng shui so that the Chinese community can say goodbye and mourn their deceased while respecting their own traditions. There they can leave offerings, burn incense or hold long celebrations, practices that in other Spanish cemeteries can cause problems. “In Monistrol we have found a calm natural environment. There are no factories or pylons and positive energy can flow,” recognize to The Country Carlos, businessman and vice president of the Qingtian Association in Catalonia. The idea is to create a cemetery with capacity for around 80,000 graves of different types, which includes everything from niches to pantheons and columbariums. The cemetery will also have an extensive area of ​​trees. From farmhouse to necropolis. Proof that the cemetery promoters are serious is that they have already made a move. The National assures who have bought a farm of almost 59 hectares in Monistrol de Calders and presented a project on which the Generalitat must now rule. For now, the investors have managed to arouse enthusiasm in the City Council, which boasts of having achieved three commitments of the company: the construction of sports facilities in the town, prioritizing residents when hiring personnel for the works and contributing between 20,000 and 40,000 euros annually to local entities. If it goes ahead, the cemetery will also serve to rehabilitate a relevant piece of Monistrol’s heritage: the Païssa farmhouse, the land on which the promoters have set their eyes. The farm would be investor ownershipbut right now she is busy and with a judicial process underway. The ultimate objective is that of its more than 587,400 m2, more than half (56%) are dedicated to the cemetery. The rest will be used for general services and a large area of ​​around 223,900 m2 will be reserved for a forest area, with pine forests. A unique project? Although the project still has to clear the processing that remains ahead, it starts with an interesting business card: it would be the first cemetery designed based on the principles of feng shui in Spain and one of the few that exist in the whole of Europe. The Country only appointment in fact one, in Zwolle, Netherlands, which opened its doors just over 10 years ago. In Spain, the new cemetery will arrive at the height of the expansion of Chinese immigration, which has been increasing for decades to surpass the 200,000 people in 2022. Not only is their number increasing. Over time, the community has been nourished by third, fourth or fifth generation Spaniards with Chinese roots, people who do not consider returning to Asia and want to be buried and mourn their dead in Spain. Until now, the perspectives were different: either the mortal remains were repatriated to China, with the cost (and distance) that this entailed, or the families were resigned to saying goodbye to their loved ones in traditional Western cemeteries. Images | Jayde Keroi (Unsplash), Maximus Beaumont (Unsplash) and Google Earth In Xataka | Chinese immigrants have always been a mystery for Spain. The podcast ‘A Chinese and a half’ is solving it from within

There is already a first crack in Chinese technological optimism: DeepSeek

by

Chen Deli, senior researcher at DeepSeek, has admitted at a state conference who is “extremely positive about technology, but pessimistic about its impact on society.” It is the first time that a representative of the Chinese company has spoken publicly since February, when its founder met with Xi Jinping after provoking that world earthquake with the launch of R1. And he has done it with that pessimistic outlook. Why is it important. This message comes from a company that the Chinese government has turned into a symbol of technological capacity and resilience in the face of US sanctions. That one of its leaders recognizes great risks for employment is a notable turn in a country where the official discourse is usually triumphalist. The facts. Chen participated in the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen along with the heads of five other companies known in China as “the six little dragons” of AI. His diagnosis has a gloomy tone: in one or two years, AI will be good enough to start replacing human jobs. In a decade or two it could take care of the rest. “Society could face an enormous challenge,” has said. “Tech companies need to take on the role of advocate.” Between the lines. This is not an American CEO peddling apocalypse smoke to inflate his valuation. In China, the State regulates technology with a firm hand. When Sam Altman says that AI will “probably lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime there will be big companies,” it sounds like marketing. When a DeepSeek executive says it at a conference organized by the government, after many months of silence and after its founder met with Xi, it sounds like a party line. The context. DeepSeek exploded in January with DeepSeek-R1a low-cost, open-source language model that was on par with American leaders. Since then, absolute exit. The founder, Liang Wenfeng, has appeared only once in all this time: at a televised symposium with Xi Jinping in February. Neither Liang nor the company has made public comments since then, and they have skipped all major Chinese tech conferences. Yes, but. While sending this message of caution, DeepSeek is in the process of consolidating itself as a cornerstone of the Chinese AI ecosystem. Chip manufacturers such as Cambricon and Huawei have developed hardware compatible with their models. In September, the company launched an “experimental” version of its V3 modelnotable not so much for its efficiency as for creating an alternative to NVIDIA’s CUDA API and its support for Chinese GPUs. In August, the simple announcement of a model optimized for national chips shares of the sector skyrocketed in the local market. And now what. Xi Jinping has proposed a little over a week ago on the APEC forum that there should be a global body that governs AI, making it “a public good for the international community.” Now a DeepSeek representative talks about AI as a potential threat that requires a unified approach from the technology sector. The narrative is shifting from triumphalism to preventive regulation. Featured image | Xataka, DeepSeek In Xataka | We believed that no open model could outperform GPT-5. A Chinese startup proves us wrong

We believed that no open model could outperform GPT-5. A Chinese startup proves us wrong

by

A Chinese startup called Moonshot just launched Kimi K2 Thinkinga gigantic open model with a trillion parameters that has done something that seemed almost impossible: surpass the best proprietary models from companies like OpenAI, Google or Anthropic. If we thought that “Open Source” models could never compete with GPT-5, Gemini 2.5 Pro or Claude, we were wrong. what has happened. This “AI laboratory” had already announced Kimi K2 in July with that gigantic size of one trillion parameters, but now they have released the “Thinking” version with that same size (32 billion active parameters, Mixture of Experts architecture). According to those responsible, the model is capable of maintaining stable use of agentic tools over between 200 and 300 sequential calls. Or what is the same: it can chain long sequences of actions autonomously and apparently without error. The best of all is not that: it is that it surpasses GPT-5 or Claude Sonnet 4.5 in various tests and costs much less than those models. The benchmarks. Those responsible for Moonshot explained how Kimi K2 Thinking achieves the highest scores in Humanity’s Last Exam (general knowledge, 44.9%) and BrowserComp (agent browsers, 60.2%). He is almost at Claude’s level in the SWE software development test, and is also almost the best in another of those benchmarks, LiveCodeBench v6. It is true that in some tests still slightly behind of its “western” rivals, but the achievement is spectacular. More benchmarks. Those responsible for Artificial Analysis have shown their first conclusions after evaluating it with various tests. Thus, they highlight its behavior in agentic tasks that simulate that the model is acting as a customer service agent. In this test it obtained 93% of the maximum, surpassing all its competitors by far (GPT-5 Codex High obtained 87%, for example). They will do more tests, but for now the prospects are fantastic. And on top of that, cheap. On CNBC indicate that training the model cost $4.6 million, a ridiculous figure considering that training proprietary models like GPT-5 It cost about 500 million dollars according to estimates. Using the Kimi K2 Thinking API is also very affordable: $0.6 per million tokens in and $2.5 per million tokens out. GPT-5 Chat costs $1.25/10 respectively, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3/15 respectively. The details. The model makes use of an INT4 quantization to improve its efficiency without compromising the precision and quality of its responses. Its context window—the “size” of the data we can enter when making prompts—is 256k, a relatively modest figure for large models but still notable. And as a good open model, we can download it to use locally… if we have a real monster at our disposal. The model weighs 594 GB, and for example joining two Mac Studio M3 Ultra It is possible to make it work locally relatively smoothly at about 15 t/s. Alibaba is behindyes. Although the model is developed by an independent startup called Moonshot, this firm has been financially supported by Alibaba, which is becoming an absolute powerhouse in this field. Already not only conforms with developing its own models, which are outstanding (Qwen is the clear example), but is also financing the development of other models such as Kimi K2/Thinking. China and its love for open AI models. During the last few months we have seen how China dominated in the field of open AI models —not “Open Source”—. The Asian giant has adopted an overwhelming philosophy with increasingly better models but which until now seemed to be several steps behind the large proprietary models of OpenAI, Anthropic or Google. This is no longer the case. The race is lively. This achievement represents a new vote of confidence for the open models coming from Chinese companies. It is true that they are huge and that makes it very difficult to use them in practice by end users, but they present an interesting alternative for companies. Image | idnaklss with Midjourney In Xataka | There are many “internal” races within the greater AI race. And Alibaba is winning Open Source

A Chinese laboratory has managed to generate electricity directly from rain, without occupying land or using metal

by

Until now, the electricity from a storm came only from lightning. A Chinese team has just added another protagonist: a device that converts raindrops into usable energy. The invention comes from the Frontier Science Institute of the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) and will open a new avenue for renewable energies. Its technical name is Water-integrated Droplet Electricity Generator, or simply W-DEG. The discovery. What differentiates this generator from the rest is not its power, but its logic. According to the published article in National Science Reviewthe device floats on water and uses that same water as part of the electrical circuit. It requires no metals or heavy structures, and yet each drop of rain can release spikes of up to 250 volts. Light, cheap and efficient: a small hydrovoltaic revolution. Rain as a source of clean energy. The physical principle behind W-DEG combines two known phenomena: contact electrification and electrostatic induction. When a droplet impacts a floating dielectric film, electrical charges are instantly redistributed between the surface of the material and the water, generating an electrical pulse. Water acts at the same time as a lower electrode and structural support, thanks to its high surface tension and incompressibility: it is firm enough to withstand the impact of drops, but fluid enough to stabilize the system. To prevent pooled water from blocking new discharges, the researchers added micro-drainage holes that allow liquid to flow downward, but not upward. This design keeps the surface clean even during heavy rain and prevents loss of efficiency. A small prototype. The Nanjing team built a 0.3 square meter prototype. Floating on water, the device was able to illuminate 50 LED diodes simultaneously and charge capacitors in a matter of minutes. Its modular design allows it to be easily expanded to power environmental sensors, water quality monitoring systems or small electrical equipment in rainy areas. Furthermore, the W-DEG is a “soilless” system: it does not occupy agricultural or urban land and can be installed on bodies of water without heavy infrastructure. This makes it an ideal candidate for regions where rain is abundant and space is scarce, or where other renewable sources – such as solar or wind – are less constant. The rise of floating energies. The new Chinese generator arrives at a time when floating energy is experiencing a global boom. Floating solar panels are being installed on ponds and reservoirs around the world, from India until the swiss alpsto produce electricity and reduce water evaporation. However, a study from Cornell University revealed an unexpected effect: in small ponds, these installations can increase methane and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 27%, by altering the balance of aquatic ecosystems. Faced with this challenge, the W-DEG emerges as a more environmentally friendly alternative. By not covering the entire surface of the water or blocking sunlight, it allows energy to be generated without altering aquatic life or natural gas exchange. Will storms generate light? The technology is still in the experimental phase. The NUAA team itself recognizes that it will have to optimize the device’s response to droplets of different sizes and speeds, something essential for real conditions. But the potential is undeniable: a lightweight, economical and durable generator, capable of obtaining energy directly from the natural water cycle, without occupying land or generating waste. Researchers imagine swarms of these devices floating in lakes or reservoirs, charging environmental sensors or powering local microgrids during rain. If every storm could turn on a light or power a system, gray days would no longer be synonymous with a blackout. With inventions like this, the border between water and energy blurs, and nature begins—literally—to generate its own electricity. Image | Unsplash Xataka | China has launched its first floating solar park in the sea: panels that rise and fall with the tide

Three Chinese astronauts have delayed their return to Earth due to an impact on the ship. The suspect: space junk

by

The crew of the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft, which was scheduled to land this Wednesday in Inner Mongolia, has been forced to postpone its return to Earth. The cause is not bad weather, as is usual in manned flights, but the most feared enemy of modern space exploration: a probable impact of space debris. Evaluating risks. China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) broke the news this morning: The return of the three astronauts aboard Shenzhou-20 has been delayed indefinitely following suspicions that the ship may have been hit by a small piece of space debris. The ship is still docked at the Chinese Tiangong space station, where the crew are safe. The crew and engineers on the ground are analyzing the impact on the ship to try to determine the extent of the damage and assess the risks of the return journey. The problem is reentry. Three people traveled to the Chinese space station in April aboard the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft: Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie. The problem is not his immediate survival, but the viability of his ship surviving the atmospheric re-entry maneuver after the impact. In low orbit, objects travel at hypersonic speeds of up to 28,000 km/h. At that speed, even a tiny fragment of metal or paint can release devastating kinetic energy, especially if it hits critical components like the ship’s heat shield or its parachutes. What do we know for now? The CMSA has not specified where it believes the impact occurred or what data alerted them to the event. Now, engineers on the ground and the crew in orbit will perform telemetry checks, check for possible leaks, and analyze the guidance and propulsion systems. They will most likely use the Tiangong station’s 10-meter robotic arm to conduct a detailed visual inspection of Shenzhou-20. If necessary, an extravehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalk is not ruled out to assess the damage closely. A problem that China was trying to avoid. The irony of this incident is that the Shenzhou-20 crew itself is fully aware of the danger. In fact, part of its six-month mission in orbit focused on mitigating this risk. Two of the astronauts six hours passed in September by installing additional protective shields against orbital fragments outside the Tiangong station. Although they reinforced the station, the impact seems to have occurred in the way that would bring them back. Image | CMSA In Xataka | Three large pieces of space debris reenter every day: “one day our luck will run out and they will fall on someone”

The secret of Chinese AI companies to compete without Nvidia chips: electricity subsidized by Beijing

by

Everywhere we look, there is artificial intelligence. Everyone talks about it, but what is its fuel? It’s not the data or the chips: it’s the electricity. While in the West technology companies are looking for how to power their data centers —increasingly energy hungry—, China has decided to take a different step. Beijing has designed an energy subsidy for its technology sector with a clear objective: to make the energy that powers the digital brains of its next generation of chips cheaper. Energy subsidy. Since September, the Chinese Government banned large national technology companies —including Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent—acquire artificial intelligence chips from the American Nvidia, in an attempt to strengthen local production. However, the consequence was immediate: national processors consume more electricity. According to The Chosun Dailygenerating the same number of tokens with Chinese chips requires 30% to 50% more energy than with Nvidia’s H20, which sent electricity bills skyrocketing and led companies to complain to regulators. To make up for that gap, local governments introduced grants that cover up to a full year of operating costs, according to the Hong Kong media on.cc. In those provinces, industrial electricity was already 30% cheaper than in the developed coastal areas of the east, but with the new incentives the price could fall to 0.4 yuan per kilowatt-hour, a record figure for the Chinese technology industry. ¿How does the energy plan work? The scheme is relatively simple, but strategic. Local governments offer electricity discounts of up to half to data centers that use chips produced within the country. Operators that use foreign processors – such as those from Nvidia or AMD – are excluded from the program. In addition, the energy provinces receive direct support from the State to finance the discounts, with the aim of reducing dependence on technological imports and compensating for the increased consumption of local chips. According to the Financial TimesChinese data centers that rely on domestic semiconductors are, for now, less energy efficient, but the subsidy seeks to bring their costs in line with those of more advanced foreign chips. These regions—Guizhou, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia—have become hotbeds for data center clusters, thanks to their abundance of hydropower and coal. There, companies like Alibaba or Tencent are building new facilities to house their generative AI models, taking advantage of lower energy costs and tax incentives. This policy combines three strategic priorities: making energy cheaper, promoting domestic chips and reinforcing technological sovereignty. In a context of United States restrictions, each subsidized kilowatt is also a political statement. An industrial policy with a geopolitical charge. Behind the energy plan is a long-range political commitment. The Chinese Government intends for its technology companies to progressively replace imported chips with domestic processors, even if this implies higher costs in the short term. The electricity subsidy acts as a temporary bridge for national giants to adopt local chips without losing competitiveness. This measure is included in a broader national strategy of technological self-sufficiency. As the Financial Times explains in its series The State of AIChina is using its “society-wide mobilization capacity” to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence. The country already leads the number of patents and scientific publications in AI, and although the United States maintains an advantage in chips and talent, the gap narrows every year. Analyst Dan Wang, quoted by the same media, points out: “China has achieved a unique balance between engineering capacity, state control and massive industrial deployment, allowing it to advance faster than other countries in the practical application of AI.” Meanwhile, in the West… China’s decision contrasts with the energy challenges of the United States. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warned that the real bottleneck of AI It is no longer the chips, but the energy. In fact, he explained that many companies accumulate chips that they cannot connect due to lack of power supply. Both Microsoft and Google are already studying building modular nuclear reactors to power their future data centers, a sign of the enormous energy consumption that artificial intelligence requires. While Silicon Valley seeks electricity, China subsidizes it. This asymmetry reflects two different models: one guided by state intervention and the other by market competition. Both pursue the same goal—sustaining the artificial intelligence revolution—but with opposite philosophies. A future plugged into the State. The Chinese subsidy not only alleviates costs: it redefines the relationship between the State and the private sector in the age of AI. As analyst Arnaud Bertrand observed, US restrictions pushed China towards a different model: more efficient, more open and more collective. “By operating under hardware limitations, Chinese companies have learned to optimize resources and share open models like Qwen or DeepSeek,” wrote Bertrand on the social network That strategy, based on efficiency and diffusion, could give China a long-term advantage in global adoption, since any company in the world can download and adapt its models. The country that controls the plug. China isn’t just making the chips that power its artificial intelligence. It is also building the electrical grid that makes them possible. In a world where data is the new oil, Beijing has decided to subsidize the fuel of the digital brain. While the West debates how to connect its supercomputers, China plugs them in at a reduced price. And in this race, whoever controls the plug could end up controlling the future. Image | FreePik and FreePik Xataka | The world of AI has a problem: there is no energy for so many chips

A Chinese artist is turning the least artistic thing into art

by

It hasn’t rained this much since that video of Will Smith eating spaghetti appeared online. However, within a few years technology has evolved tremendously. Taking other people’s content as inspiration, you can now create videos with absurd fidelity. The funniest thing is that, If AI “steals”there is an artist “stealing” which makes the AI-generated videos appear to be AI-generated videos. And it’s delirious. Tianran Mu is a Chinese actor and content creator who, at the age of 29, asked himself how he could create content inspired by what AI does. take a look to the video which we leave below in which you can see Tianran Mu -the one with the noodles- and another person. Exactly, there are clumsy movements, misplaced facial expressions and inconsistencies galore that we associate with failures and hallucinations of artificial intelligence generative, and it is where the 29-year-old creator has seen an opportunity to create a series of videos taking advantage of these gaps in technology. 40 years of forgiveness Recently, Wired He was able to chat with Tianran Mu. At 29 years old, he spent some time looking for work in the film industry, specifically at the huge Hengdian World Studios, but there was no luck. In 2019, he started creating ‘sketches’ on Chinese social networks and things went well for him. After experimenting with content creation using AI, began to detect those patterns in which technology fails. For example, unnatural body gestures, erratic glances, plots that turn somersaults or elements that overlap and, in 2024, it began to release short videos imitating this which means that, luckily, we can still know if a video is AI or not. And it’s… fun. In some videos, he uses different actors to play the same role, emulating the continuity problems that AI often has. The characters are also not looking anywhere and feel like robots. The impact is there. In Chinese networksit seems that the young man has hit hard, but it was a few weeks ago when part of his content began to be shared on Western networks such as X or Instagram, accumulating more than 10 million views and thousands of reactions on platforms where he is not present. The phenomenon has viralized in a very organic way at a time when there is an intense debate around these AI creations. That debate has intensified with the Sora 2 releasethe OpenAI model that has evolved tremendously compared to the tools we had until now and that makes really difficult to guess if certain videos are AI or not. It is something that has already had its share of controversy, of course. content theft to train the modelbut Mu saw an opportunity in Sora 2. He identified that the human characters generated by Sora laugh in unpleasant ways and have hair with strange “physics.” So, he imitated it in a video he released a few days ago: It’s curious because being 100% artisanal and human, Mu’s video is more uncanny valley than some videos made with AI. I think this speaks very well of his work, but also of the dark side of Sora 2. In fact, the actor himself confessed to Wired that It has been much more difficult for him to parody Sora 2 because the quality has gone up several notches. In fact, he comments that it is almost impossible to create parodies and states that in a few months “there will be nothing left to imitate. If I try to act as the AI ​​will, I would only be acting like a human.” And this is really sad. Yes, it is having enormous virality, but that does not pay the mortgage and Mu says that, in two years, many directors and actors will use AI to replace not only the special effects departments, but the actors themselves. And, as an actor, he confesses that if it is already difficult to compete against other actors, it will be more difficult to do so against those who do not even exist, but who can potentially act like a human, bending to whatever the studios want. You don’t have to go in two years. It is true that thanks to this virality, in China he has had some contracts with companies that want him to use AI for campaigns, but he affirms that, in his own content, everything he does is human because his goal is… well, to be hired for his acting skills. Images | Tianran Mu In Xataka | YouTube is becoming much more important to Google than its video platform: in its search engine

the architect of the chinese electrical empire

by

On November 20th our Xataka NordVPN Awards 2025which you can follow from our website. In them we will reward, as always, the most important devices and technologies of this year. And of course, in its fourth edition, we will present the Xataka Leyenda award. This recognition, achieved by Pedro Duque in 2021, Margrethe Vestager in 2022 and Matt Mullenweg in 2023recognizes the journey and career of someone of great relevance in science and technology. Today we have the honor of announcing the fourth winner of this award: Stella Li, global executive vice president of BYDthe company that has transformed the automotive industry. Stella Li will join us during the Xataka NordVPN 2025 Awards gala in a few weeks (you can still get a ticket) and we will do an interview that you can see and read on Xataka. You can follow it live with us. Almost three decades of total transformation Li has been with BYD for almost thirty years. He joined when it was a battery manufacturer with two dozen employees that supplied Motorola. Today he directs operations in 88 countries of a company that is approaching a million workers and exceeds $100 billion in revenue. In 2024, BYD manufactured 4.27 million electric vehiclesmore than any other manufacturer in the world. At the beginning of the year she was appointed World Car Person of the Year 2025the first woman and the first Chinese to receive this recognition. His philosophy is direct: “Our common enemy is the internal combustion engine.” He does not see competitors in Tesla or Volkswagen, but rather allies against oil. A rare bird. The industry has been betting on specialization for years, but Li has promoted the opposite: BYD manufactures everything in-house, from screws to chips. When the 2021 semiconductor crisis paralyzed competitors, BYD accelerated. This integration allows BYD to sell the Seagull for 9,000 euros and a luxury Yangwang for 300,000 both models being profitable. With 110,000 engineers, the company registers 32 patents daily. Solid state batteries, your great future betare confirmed for 2030, with 10,000 engineers dedicated exclusively to its development. Execution speed The Brazil plant was announced in December and was already operational in March. The Spanish network has gone from zero to 65 dealers in a year and a half months. When Europe imposed 17% tariffs, BYD pivoted to plug-in hybrids within weeks and sales skyrocketed 892%. Pure speed. Li has not focused his strategy on exporting Chinese cars, but on something very different that explains his success: creating local ecosystems. Hiring in California, development of specific flex hybrids for Brazil, software adapted for each European market… One of its latest movements has been the announcement of 20,000 million euros in European investments and the creation of 10,000 jobs in Hungary. You still have time to get your tickets for the gala Xataka NordVPN Awards 2025 on November 20 in Madrid! Join us and discover the best technological products of the year in a free event full of gadgets, humor and surprises. Advice offered by the brand Despite his growing importance, Li does not have social networks. He gives interviews, but not many. Her public profile is inversely proportional to her impact: she has opened 230 stores in Europe in 12 months, she already has a presence in 88 countries and has multiplied the value of BYD by 20,000 since 2003. She herself was personally in charge of the openings of the first offices in Hong Kong, Rotterdam and Chicago. Three decades of institutional memory converted into the greatest competitive advantage. Stella Li has transformed the global automotive market without having to make media noisecombining strategic patience Zen and very high speed of execution. For all this journey she is the winner of the Xataka Leyenda 2025 award. In Xataka | Stella Li, vice president of BYD: “In five years we will be one of the three main manufacturers in the world, I am convinced” Featured image | Xataka

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.