China's Hidden AI Economy

How do users in China get access to Claude and ChatGPT through the gray market? What’s really driving China’s apparent “AI optimism”? How is China trying to deal with deepfakes and AI-generated content?In this episode, I speak with Zilan Qian, a researcher at the Oxford China Policy Lab about the hidden side of China’s AI boom, including:How Chinese users use “transfer stations” to access American AI models like Claude and ChatGPTWhy Chinese users still want to use Claude and ChatGPT even though there are strong Chinese modeWhy China’s apparent AI optimism is really driven by anxiety about falling behindChina’s push to label AI-generated content—and the problems with watermarks, detection, and false positivesLinks:Zilan’s Oxford pageZilan on Substack and Twitter / XHow to Buy Cheap Claude Tokens in ChinaChina’s AI optimism isn’t what it seemsLabelling AI-Generated Content in China