Hisham Alrayes, CEO of Bahrain-based GFH Financial Group, said China is using open-source artificial intelligence models as a strategic tool to distribute the benefits of AI across its entire economy, rather than concentrating them within a handful of tech giants. Speaking at a Davos panel on China’s “AI+ Economy” strategy, Alrayes highlighted that China’s approach reflects a distinct economic philosophy—one focused on broad societal impact over corporate profit. He contrasted China’s open model with the closed, proprietary systems dominant in the United States, where companies like OpenAI and Google tightly control access to their AI technologies. “You look at the open structure of the China AI philosophy — then you have the non-open structure,” Alrayes said. “That signals that the benefit they want to see is to trickle down into the economy, into the companies.” China’s most notable AI success story, DeepSeek, exemplifies this strategy. Unlike many leading U.S. models, DeepSeek primarily relies on open-source frameworks, which have drawn global attention for their performance and accessibility. Yann LeCun, Meta’s former chief AI scientist, has pointed out that open-source models can drive faster innovation and greater efficiency by enabling collaborative development across institutions and nations. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has echoed this view, suggesting that China’s open-source AI models could gain a competitive edge globally because they are free to use. This makes them especially appealing to governments and developing nations that cannot afford expensive proprietary systems. Alrayes emphasized that China’s strategy is not about enriching individual companies or products, but about creating widespread economic value. “It's not the benefit of that company, of that product, the return of that individual. It's not an individual — it's an economy,” he said. This vision is embedded in China’s national “AI Plus” action plan, which aims to integrate AI into key sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and education. Gong Ke, executive director of the Chinese Institute for New Generation AI Development Strategies at Nankai University, explained that the plan sets clear adoption targets: AI agents and intelligent terminals are expected to reach 70% penetration by 2027 and 90% by 2030. Rather than focusing on abstract goals like artificial general intelligence, the strategy treats AI as infrastructure—essential for modern economic growth. “China is looking to create value throughout the economy, very clear, with very specific objectives across the economy,” Alrayes said. “Not just as a benefit to those companies. This is the difference in the philosophy.”