As China turns applied AI into an engine of productivity and disruption, business leaders face high-stakes choices about which use cases and capabilities to back to stay competitive.
China is running a different AI race. While firms in the U.S. and Europe are investing heavily in frontier models alongside enterprise deployment, China is taking an application-first approach, embedding practical AI into the office platforms that power day-to-day work. Chinese executives returned the highest overall score in this year’s AlixPartners Disruption Index, yet 90% report feeling optimistic about AI’s impact, versus a global average of 80%, pointing to a market where disruption pressures may even be reinforcing leaders’ belief in AI as a way through the turbulence.
