AIsphere Raises $14 Million to Challenge OpenAI’s Sora in China’s AI Landscape

Beijing-based generative AI startup AIsphere has raised funding, indicating its ambition to rival OpenAI’s Sora. AIsphere, a Chinese text-to-video startup, aims to catch up with Sora within three to six months and has completed a new funding round amidst interest in generative artificial intelligence and large language models in the country.

AIsphere has raised over 100 million yuan (US$14 million) in its series A funding round led by venture firm Fortune Capital, as announced by the startup on its WeChat account. However, the startup did not disclose its valuation. Within a month, it marked the third fundraising event in China, following recent investments by tech giant Alibaba Group Holding in LLM developers MiniMax and Moonshot AI.

AIsphere, nearing its one-year anniversary in April, introduced a text-to-video model for the Chinese market on Monday, following the rollout of its PixVerse model aimed at international users two months prior. With this, the company plans swift expansion and adaptation to meet the demands of both domestic and international markets in the AI sector.

Established in April 2023 by Wang Changhu, a former ByteDance executive, AIsphere has gained momentum in the AI sector. Its flagship product, the PixVerse video generator, debuted earlier this year, targeting both domestic and international markets. Notably, the company aims to close the gap with OpenAI’s Sora within six months, a goal with expansion plans in the competitive AI landscape.

AIsphere distinguishes itself by its “ByteDance gene,” drawing on the expertise cultivated at the China tech conglomerate ByteDance to tackle intricate challenges in computer vision. Leveraging talent from industry leaders like Tencent Holdings and Microsoft Research, the company has the technical prowess to be a lead player in the AI field.

Wang has set goals, stating that the company aims to surpass Sora’s capabilities within the next three to six months. However, despite the confidence of the AIsphere, some industry experts urge caution. 

Nonetheless, AIsphere remains undeterred in its pursuit of commercialization. The company plans to offer video generation services to content creators and, in the future, provide AI-generated content directly to users.

In a contrasting development, Baidu’s Ernie AI chatbot, hailed as China’s equivalent to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, encountered setbacks after its alleged involvement in Chinese military research. 

Moreover, analysts foresee a slowdown in AI progress in China due to escalating US tech trade restrictions, further complicating the landscape for Chinese AI firms.

On a separate note, a former Google engineer, Linwei Ding, who was indicted by the US Department of Justice, faces allegations of stealing confidential AI technology while working for tech firms in China. The DOJ unsealed the indictment on Wednesday, charging Ding, also known as Leon Ding, with four counts of theft of trade secrets.

Also Read:

• Echelon’s TOP100 2024 Boasts A More Mature Program In Its 10th Edition As First 26 Startups Are Revealed
• How does AKA Virtual rescue classic IPs from the “midlife crisis”?
• OCBC Launches Women Entrepreneurs Programme: Supporting Female-Led SMEs in Singapore
• Former Google Engineer Indicted for Alleged Theft of AI Secrets in China
• Canvas Ventures Launches to Support Thai Startups onto the Global Stage