A recent report from UK research firm Omdia reveals a stark contrast in AI development strategies between American and Asian companies. While US firms heavily invest in Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), Asian nations are prioritizing localization and the preservation of multilingual cultures, with cloud service providers and telecom companies playing a pivotal role.
The report, titled "Asia and Oceania: Local and Regional Responses to Generative AI," examines the response of Asian and Oceanic countries to Generative AI. It highlights the region's linguistic and cultural diversity, encompassing numerous developing nations.
Omdia forecasts that from 2024 to 2028, Generative AI software revenue in this region will soar to US$18.3 billion, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 53%, far outpacing the 13% CAGR for predictive AI. Despite this, predictive AI will continue to coexist with Generative AI, catering to different application scenarios.
The global surge in interest sparked by OpenAI's ChatGPT has prompted countries in Asia and Oceania to accelerate their AI initiatives. They are determined to prevent a handful of tech giants from monopolizing the development of large language models (LLMs) while ensuring stability and security in their AI advancements.
Most LLMs training data is derived from English or other dominant languages. Likewise, LLM safety mechanisms are often rooted in Western cultural values, which may not be suitable for diverse regional contexts.
In response, many organizations are shifting towards using localized data, infrastructure, and models for developing and deploying Generative AI. China, South Korea, and Japan are notably proactive in promoting AI localization, ensuring their AI solutions reflect local identities and cultural needs.
Prominent companies like Alibaba, Baidu, Huawei, and Tencent, along with SK Telecom (SKT) and Korea Telecom (KT), are creating their own AI chips, infrastructure, and related solutions. In addition, firms such as China Mobile, China Telecom, South Korea's Naver, and Japan's NEC and NTT have launched LLMs in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese respectively. Taiwan's MediaTek and ASUS are also advancing LLM development.
The report estimates that 50% of foundational models developed in China utilize Alibaba Cloud's infrastructure. However, while many companies have developed their own models, the return on investment remains uncertain.
Omdia underscores localization as the central theme in Generative AI development across Asia and Oceania. Governments in the region are expected to roll out more policies and incentives to expedite infrastructure development and talent recruitment, aiming to maintain global AI competitiveness. Local and regional governance frameworks are also anticipated.
Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang advocates for each country to develop sovereign AI, controlling their own data and models.
Before the advent of sovereign AI, concepts like sovereign cloud and digital sovereignty had already taken root. The fundamental principle is that nations or enterprises manage their own data, with highly sensitive information stored and processed within sovereign regions or local servers.
