India, Jan. 30 -- Telegram founder Pavel Durov has claimed that China's success in AI came from its Soviet-style education system, which fosters strong competition and compared it to Western schools that "hide grades to protect feelings."

"If the US doesn't reform its education system, it risks ceding tech leadership to China," he wrote in a post on X, adding a long note sharing his thoughts on Chinese AI startup DeepSeek.

Durov said that the Chinese startup surprised many at how quickly it caught up with the US in AI especially OpenAI. "China's progress in algorithmic efficiency hasn't come out of nothing. Chinese students have long outperformed others in math and programming at international olympiads. When it comes to producing outst...