China's artificial intelligence race has no finish line. DeepSeek , Moonshot AI, Alibaba and even consumer electronics firm Xiaomi have all dropped new models in recent weeks, jostling for position on leaderboards. From native AI startups to platform giants, companies across the sector face growing pressure to innovate, expand their user base and find paths to generate revenue. At the same time, they must manage steep research and development costs alongside rising expenses for computing power and hardware. SenseTime, one of China's early AI companies, has pivoted to stay relevant in the generative AI era. Long known for facial and image recognition, the company now develops multimodal systems that can combine text, audio and visual data. Founded in Hong Kong in 2014, SenseTime has faced U.S. sanctions over allegations related to surveillance of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, which it has denied.…