US-China AI gap narrows to record-low 3%, led by DeepSeek: Report. The gap between leading US and Chinese AI models has narrowed to a record-low 3%, Bloomberg Intelligence said, as Chinese labs gain ground. The gap fell from 9% in May and 15% earlier this year after DeepSeek released its V4.1 Flash model in September. China's progress is being driven by growing AI expertise and better optimisation for domestic hardware.