Tencent releases new AI model, says replies faster than DeepSeek-R1
Tencent claims its Hunyuan Turbo S model is able to reply to queries within a second, distinguishing itself "from DeepSeek R1, Hunyuan T1, and other slow thinking models".
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BEIJING: Chinese tech giant Tencent on Thursday (Feb 27) released a new AI model that it says can answer queries faster than global hit DeepSeek's R1, in the latest sign the startup's domestic and overseas success is putting pressure on its larger competitors in China.
The Hunyuan Turbo S is able to reply to queries within a second, distinguishing itself "from DeepSeek R1, Hunyuan T1, and other slow thinking models that need to 'think for a while before answering'", Tencent said in a statement.
Tencent added that when tested on fields like knowledge, math, and reasoning, Turbo S' capabilities matched DeepSeek-V3, which powers DeepSeek's AI chatbot that has surpassed OpenAI's ChatGPT in app store downloads.
DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The success of DeepSeek's R1 and V3 models, which in a first for a Chinese firm have been widely praised and adopted across Silicon Valley, has sent Chinese tech giants like Tencent scrambling to put out new versions of AI models they began developing after the arrival of OpenAI's ChatGPT in late 2022.
Last month, just days after DeepSeek-R1 shook the global tech order and triggered an AI stock sell-off outside China, e-commerce giant Alibaba released the Qwen 2.5-Max model, which it claimed outperforms DeepSeek-V3 across the board.
Tencent also said that the usage costs of the new Turbo S were many times cheaper than its previous iterations, highlighting how DeepSeek's open-source and low-pricing strategy has forced other leading Chinese AI firms to charge users less.
On Monday, Chinese tech giant Alibaba said it would spend more than US$50 billion on artificial intelligence and cloud computing over the next three years, a week after co-founder Jack Ma was seen meeting President Xi Jinping.
The company plans to "invest at least 380 billion yuan (US$53 billion) over the next three years to advance its cloud computing and AI infrastructure", a company statement said.
The firm said its strategy was aimed at "reinforcing (Alibaba's) commitment to long-term technological innovation ... (and) underscores the company's focus on AI-driven growth".
DeepSeek's rise has also seen Chinese telcos, automakers and even local government bodies flocking to integrate the AI into their services.
China’s “Big Three” telecom operators - China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom - have integrated DeepSeek’s AI models, mainly in their cloud services. So too have leading smartphone makers such as Huawei, Vivo and Oppo.
Tech giants have also followed suit. Tencent’s Weixin messaging app - which serves domestic users and is the sister app to WeChat - is allowing some users to search via DeepSeek’s AI model, while Baidu has said it will link up its search engine and AI chatbot Ernie Bot to DeepSeek.
Universities in China have also jumped on the trend - launching AI courses based on DeepSeek or deploying it as a learning tool in courses.
Shenzhen University in southern Guangdong province said that it was launching an artificial intelligence course based on DeepSeek which would help students learn about key technologies and also on security, privacy, ethics and other challenges.
The course will "explore how to find a balance between technological innovation and ethical norms", the university said.
Zhejiang University in eastern China said it began holding special DeepSeek courses in February.
Shanghai's Jiao Tong University has deployed DeepSeek to upgrade AI learning tools for its courses, it said on its official WeChat account. Renmin University of China said it has also put DeepSeek into application in "multiple fields, injecting new power for teaching and research, campus office".
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