BEIJING – China is closing in on the US in the AI race after the superpower developed its cybersecurity capabilities to match those of its American rivals.
Beijing-based tech firms 360 Security Technology and Z.ai, also known as Zhipu AI, have narrowed the gap with American competitors when it comes to finding bugs. 360 Security Chief Executive Zhou Hongyi told a cybersecurity conference in the Chinese capital that the company’s bug-finding tool, called Tulongfeng, is now comparable to Anthropic’s Mythos, which serves the same function. ‘‘This kind of powerful weapon that can alter the landscape of cyberwarfare can’t remain solely in American hands,’’ Zhou said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Identifying bugs in software using AI systems allows hackers to quickly exploit them before they can be fixed – which may lead to a nightmare worldwide ‘bugmageddon’ scenario where cybercriminals can launch widespread and devastating attacks. Though Chinese tech is advancing in this field, it still lags behind on other fronts, including OpenAI products like ChatGPT. While Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have maintained what the US President terms a ‘good relationship,’ the rivalry between the two superpowers remains tense. Amid increased security concerns, the Trump administration has been imposing limits on public access to new Anthropic systems – something which critics have said is actually helping Beijing by stunting the growth of US models.
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