Artificial Analysis, an AI benchmarking platform, reports that leading Chinese models now trail their American counterparts by just three to nine months, a gap that was well over a year not long ago.
CEO Micah Hill-Smith says his firm’s data confirms this narrowing even after the release of breakthrough models from both sides.
DeepSeek closes the gap
The headline performer on China’s side is DeepSeek. As of May 2025, the company’s R1 0528 model tied for the world’s second-ranked lab overall, making it the clear leader among Chinese AI developers.
On the American side, OpenAI’s o3 model still holds the top spot.
