But none of these problems erase the central fact that China has become a frontier AI power.The most important question is not just who builds the smartest model, but who uses AI most effectively across society.In China, companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, Baidu and ByteDance operate under clear political limits If Beijing decides that AI must serve industrial policy, national security or social stability, it has tools to make companies follow.The US has its own control problem