China · Notable AI Models Released per Year

## What this measures

How many AI models released in each year Epoch AI marks as notable, counting models with at least one Chinese developer. Epoch lists the country of each organisation that developed a model ("Country (of organization)", one entry per organisation). A model counts once for each country among its developers, so a U.S.–Chinese collaboration counts for both. Hong Kong is listed separately by Epoch and is not counted as China. Points are calendar years, dated December 31, complete years only.

## Why it matters

Notable models are the ones that moved the field: highly cited, very costly to train, or state of the art. The count by country shows where that work is done, and how the balance between the U.S., China and everyone else has shifted.

## How to read it

Higher means more notable models that year. Compare countries within the same year. The U.S., China and rest-of-world counts can add up to more than the world total, because a model built by developers in several countries counts for each of them.

## What it does not say

It counts models, not their quality or size: a small, often-cited research model counts the same as a frontier model. Epoch adds models as it finds them, so recent years can rise in later updates. A developer's country is where its organisation is based.

## Source

Epoch AI, 'Data on AI models' (epoch.ai/data/ai-models), Notable AI Models. CC BY 4.0. Counts by developer country calculated by Palanor.