The jockeying for A.I. primacy has huge implications. Breakthroughs in generative A.I. could tip the global technological balance of power, increasing people’s productivity, aiding industries and leading to future innovations, even as nations struggle with the technology’s risks.
As Chinese firms aim to catch up by turning to open-source A.I. models from the United States, Washington is in a difficult spot. Even as the United States has tried to slow China’s advancements by limiting the sale of microchips and curbing investments, it has not held back the practice of openly releasing software to encourage its adoption.
For China, the newfound reliance on A.I. systems from the United States — primarily Meta’s LLaMA — has fueled deeper questions about the country’s innovation model, which in recent decades surprised many by turning out world-beating firms like Alibaba and ByteDance despite Beijing’s authoritarian controls.
A.I. has long been a priority in China. After the A.I. tool AlphaGo defeated two top players of the board game Go in 2016 and 2017, Chinese policymakers set out an ambitious plan to lead the world in technology by 2030. The government pledged billions to researchers and companies focused on A.I.
U.S. restrictions on A.I. chip sales to China pose further challenges, since many such chips are needed when training generative A.I. models. Baidu and 01.AI, among others, have said they’ve stockpiled enough chips to sustain their operations in the near future.
@SmeltHannahGreen3mos3MO
I often feel that rumors of the end of American domination are highly highly exaggerated. There is not a single country in the world, nor a group of nations, that can come even close to challenging American technological dominance or even economic dominance. Neither EU, nor BRICS, nor any other entity on Planet Earth can challenge the US supremacy. I wont rule out Aliens, though.
@C1v1cSparrowLibertarian3mos3MO
hose who think that we have any particular advantage or that we are far ahead not only in this but any other game vs. China are delusional. Remember, 50y ago they were dying from hunger. Then selling of US interests started, which hugely lifted the rich here and the poor there, and, maybe not today but very soon, we will have a giant facing us and taking us down in every respect, wanting to.
@GrizzlySophiaRepublican3mos3MO
The CCP operates like Orwell's Ministry of Truth - facts are changed to fit CCP doctrine, inconvenient truths are scrubbed. How can AI be developed using data managed by the MoT? Or will China's AI also depend on western data? But then the AI product would also be... inconvenient, and censored.
Almost each and every Chinese technology are based on innovations in the West, mainly the US. The greed of American corporations and investors allowed China to rise so fast, especially during its first one and half decades pf growth, with its almost no regard to human rights, environment, and labor laws that we in the West have. Those western companies wanted to circumvent such laws and botlenecks (as they describe) by investing in China. In the process those westen companies enabled China to progress so fast without much going through the troubles to develop a new technology or product as… Read more
@BlueStateSkylarRepublican3mos3MO
We need to stay ahead of China on the AI front for several reasons. First, they are a totalitarian and surveillance society and will definitely use this technology against us and against their own citizens. Second there are multiple military applications that are very important. Third it is their general MO to steal and copy anything that isn't nailed down, so we need to protect and safeguard developments that we and our companies have made.
@ISIDEWITH3mos3MO
@ISIDEWITH3mos3MO
