Everyone has a take on China and AI right now. Very few have actually been to China. I spent last week in Beijing and Shanghai meeting most of the major model labs, researchers, VCs, and founders building Chinese AI. This trip meant a lot to me beyond the work. My parents were born and raised in Beijing. I spent my earliest years growing up in my grandparents' Xicheng district apartment. As a child, I wanted to be a diplomat because I thought US–China would be the defining relationship of the next hundred years. I got as far as spending a decade investing across both and then the two halves of my identity stopped being compatible. This was my first trip back since. Below is a write-up of what I found. In short: there is no version of the next decade where Chinese open models don't matter. https://earnedintuition.substack.com/p/involution-without-export-is-wasted