On Tuesday, Tencent, a global leader in internet and technology, introduced a new AI tool capable of transforming text or images into 3D visuals and graphics.
This innovation is part of a growing wave of AI advancements, particularly following DeepSeek’s impact on artificial intelligence development in China and the United States.
Tencent intends to open-source five new tools for 3D content creation built on its Hunyuan 3D-2.0 model. These tools will enhance Tencent’s proprietary 3D engine, benefiting game developers and content creators.
AI models are developing at a drastically accelerated pace
DeepSeek stunned Silicon Valley with a model that rivals the best from OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc. but allegedly at a much cheaper cost than some of its top US competitors.
The series of improved model introductions highlights a drastically accelerated pace of development. As a result, prominent companies across the US and China, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and OpenAI, have released astonishingly improved AI.
Recently, Baidu Inc. upgraded its flagship foundation model to Ernie 4.5 and introduced the X1 to rival DeepSeek’s R1.
Bloomberg Intelligence commented on Baidu’s newest AI model, stating that its introduction can help struggling firms reduce the development gap between them and DeepSeek, Alibaba and Tencent.
However, considering the intense competition in China’s commoditized AI market, they will not result in any appreciable earnings upside.
The research arm added that following the release of comparable models from other companies, Baidu’s new native Ernie 4.5 multimodal foundation model and Ernie X1 deep-thinking reasoning model do not seem to be different enough from the competition. They said its launch followed the introduction of similar models by its competitors.
Moreover, Tencent’s WeChat operator launched the Hunyuan Turbo S, which is designed to respond as fast as possible, unlike DeepSeek’s deep reasoning approach. On the official WeChat channel, Tencent said the deployment cost had significantly dropped.
DeepSeek’s reasoning approach is designed to solve problems through explicit logical reasoning. It solves challenging tasks by breaking down problems, “thinking” before responding and improving solutions, hence taking time to respond.
In addition to in-house development, Tencent is incorporating DeepSeek’s R1 model into various products, such as the Yuanbao AI chatbot and WeChat search. In fact, Yuanbao briefly overtook DeepSeek as China’s most downloaded iPhone app this month.
Game studios are also exploring AI to accelerate pre-production and in-game design, which could shorten the time it takes to release a game.
Tencent stoked the AI race with a model that it claimed beats DeepSeek
Tencent Holdings Ltd. joined a wave of tech companies that have unveiled or improved an AI model aimed at surpassing DeepSeek since the startup’s rise sparked the US-China technology race.
An investment director at Aberdeen Group PLC, Xin-Yao Ng, said, “Every player will incorporate their techniques to improve their own architecture, and so we’ll keep having companies come up with new models that claim to be better.” He added, “Tencent is likely to invest heavily into AI infrastructure like Baba and look to grow their AI cloud business.”
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