tech
February 14, 2026
China's Tech Titans Are Giving Away Money and Cars in 'The Lunar New Year AI War'
ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 model that created the viral Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fight videos got the attention of Elon Musk.
TL;DR
- Chinese AI companies are competing fiercely during Lunar New Year with significant giveaways and promotions.
- ByteDance, Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba are offering cash prizes, luxury goods, and vouchers to promote their AI models.
- Significant investments are being made, with Alibaba spending CNY3 billion on its Qwen model.
- Companies are also upgrading their AI models, such as ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 for video generation.
- Zhipu AI and MiniMax have also released new AI models to compete in the market.
- Analysts note a high-stakes race for user capture and ecosystem building, with profitability concerns.
- The government, led by Premier Li Qiang, is also encouraging the acceleration of AI's commercial application.
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