Is China quietly winning the AI ​​race?

Hundreds of millions of users flock to Pinterest every month in search of the latest styles.

A page called “The Most Ridiculous Things” is full of crazy ideas that inspire creatives. Crocodiles repurposed as flower pots. Cheeseburger shaped eyeshadow. A gingerbread house made from vegetables.

However, what potential buyers may not know is that the technology behind it wasn’t necessarily made in the USA. Pinterest is experimenting with Chinese AI models to improve its recommendation engine.

“We have essentially turned Pinterest into an AI-powered shopping assistant,” company CEO Bill Ready told me.

Of course, the San Francisco-based tastemaker could use any number of American AI labs to power things along behind the scenes.

But since the launch of the Chinese model DeepSeek R-1 in January 2025, Chinese AI technology has increasingly become part of Pinterest.

Ready calls the so-called “DeepSeek moment” a breakthrough.

“They decided to open source it and that sparked a…