"Western education surpassed by Chinese, claims Telegram's Durov"
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has credited China’s swift progress in artificial intelligence to its highly competitive education system. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
The Russian tech billionaire has warned that DeepSeek’s AI success is just the beginning.
Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov has attributed China's rapid advancements in artificial intelligence to its highly competitive education system, highlighting the nation's consistent excellence in mathematics and programming.
In a statement on Wednesday, Durov noted that China’s education system fosters “fierce competition” among students, echoing the principles of the “highly efficient” Soviet model. He contrasted this with Western educational approaches, where competition is often minimized to protect students' feelings.
“Victory and defeat are two sides of the same coin. Eliminate the losers – and you eliminate the winners,” Durov wrote in a post celebrating the Chinese New Year.
Durov asserted that while it may seem kind to tell all students they are champions regardless of their performance, the reality will quickly dispel this notion after graduation.
“Reality, unlike well-meaning school policies, does have public grades and rankings – whether in sports, business, science, or technology,” he stated on Wednesday, warning that the lack of transparency in student performance can make school feel meaningless for ambitious teenagers.
“AI benchmarks that demonstrate DeepSeek’s superiority are one of such public rankings. And more are coming,” he cautioned.
“China’s progress in algorithmic efficiency hasn’t come out of nowhere,” Durov explained, noting that Chinese students have "long outperformed others in math and programming at international Olympiads.”
China leads the US in total medal counts in the International Mathematical Olympiad, with 185 gold medals to 151, as well as 102 to 68 in the International Olympiad in Informatics. While the US managed to narrowly surpass China by just two points in the 2024 IMO, marking the end of China’s decade-long reign, some critics attributed this victory to the “disproportionate” Asian representation on the American team.
Durov’s remarks follow the success of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which has developed an open-source reasoning model without access to advanced US chips and at a fraction of the cost. He warned that unless the US education system undergoes substantial reforms to promote competition and recognize excellence, China’s growing dominance in technology appears inevitable.
Anna Muller contributed to this report for TROIB News
Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov has attributed China's rapid advancements in artificial intelligence to its highly competitive education system, highlighting the nation's consistent excellence in mathematics and programming.
In a statement on Wednesday, Durov noted that China’s education system fosters “fierce competition” among students, echoing the principles of the “highly efficient” Soviet model. He contrasted this with Western educational approaches, where competition is often minimized to protect students' feelings.
“Victory and defeat are two sides of the same coin. Eliminate the losers – and you eliminate the winners,” Durov wrote in a post celebrating the Chinese New Year.
Durov asserted that while it may seem kind to tell all students they are champions regardless of their performance, the reality will quickly dispel this notion after graduation.
“Reality, unlike well-meaning school policies, does have public grades and rankings – whether in sports, business, science, or technology,” he stated on Wednesday, warning that the lack of transparency in student performance can make school feel meaningless for ambitious teenagers.
“AI benchmarks that demonstrate DeepSeek’s superiority are one of such public rankings. And more are coming,” he cautioned.
“China’s progress in algorithmic efficiency hasn’t come out of nowhere,” Durov explained, noting that Chinese students have "long outperformed others in math and programming at international Olympiads.”
China leads the US in total medal counts in the International Mathematical Olympiad, with 185 gold medals to 151, as well as 102 to 68 in the International Olympiad in Informatics. While the US managed to narrowly surpass China by just two points in the 2024 IMO, marking the end of China’s decade-long reign, some critics attributed this victory to the “disproportionate” Asian representation on the American team.
Durov’s remarks follow the success of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which has developed an open-source reasoning model without access to advanced US chips and at a fraction of the cost. He warned that unless the US education system undergoes substantial reforms to promote competition and recognize excellence, China’s growing dominance in technology appears inevitable.
Anna Muller contributed to this report for TROIB News
