Why AI Large Models Are Shaping the Next Industrial Revolution

Introduction

Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is still in the research phase, and large models are considered a crucial path toward achieving AGI. These models are pre‑trained on massive datasets and later fine‑tuned with prompts, instruction tuning, and human feedback to serve a wide range of downstream tasks, marking a transition from "large‑scale model training" to "large‑model refinement".

Current Landscape

GPT leads the global arena : Since GPT‑1, the GPT series has progressed rapidly, with ChatGPT launching only a year after GPT‑3.5. The model now supports multimodal capabilities, an ecosystem of custom GPTs, and low‑cost, low‑threshold customization for both B2B and B2C users, giving it broad disruptive potential.

Domestic Chinese models : Companies such as SenseTime, Du Xiaoman, and DiPu Technology, along with cloud giants Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba, dominate the Chinese general‑model market. They benefit from early infrastructure deployment, extensive data resources, and strong application scenario integration.

Hot applications : The rapid iteration of ChatGPT and other large models has spurred popular applications across dialogue systems, image generation, education, and office productivity both domestically and abroad.

Future Outlook

Content creation revolution : With universal, multimodal, high‑parameter models, AI large models become "factories" for automated content generation. The emergence of GPTStore hints at an upcoming "App Store" for AIGC, expanding commercial possibilities.

Model evolution : Multimodal models aim to emulate human brain information processing, offering more comprehensive understanding and generation. Core large models are the primary focus of research and development, while intermediate‑layer models remain largely absent in China.

Revenue models : Four main AIGC monetization approaches are identified—Model‑as‑a‑Service (MaaS), pay‑per‑output, software subscription, and custom model development fees. Pay‑per‑output currently dominates, but MaaS is projected to capture the largest market share as the ecosystem matures.

Market forecast : According to QuantumBit, the AIGC market was about ¥170 billion in 2023. It is expected to double by 2026 and potentially exceed ¥1 trillion by 2030, driven by expanding applications and the scaling of underlying models.

Conclusion

The convergence of massive data, powerful compute, and advanced algorithms is propelling AI large models from experimental research to industrial‑scale production tools, reshaping content creation, enterprise workflows, and entire industry value chains.