Chinese tech giants are accelerating their efforts to compete with the US in artificial intelligence (AI) development. Despite various barriers, they demonstrate increasing promise in this technological race with significant state support and massive data accumulation. However, how far China is in actually surpassing the West in AI remains a heated debate among tech experts.
China's big bet on AI
China is rapidly catching up with the West in the AI race, with its investment in AI projects expected to rise by almost 50% this year, hitting $15 billion. Kai-Fu Lee, a prominent Taiwanese computer scientist, believes that China is likely to supersede the US in AI development. He argues that the world has moved from the AI innovation stage to the AI implementation stage, and here, China has an advantage, thanks to years of extensive state surveillance and data accumulation.
Despite China's aggressive push into AI, there's a counter-argument that the AI revolution is still in its early stages, and the West, especially the US, is still in the driver's seat. Pedro Domingos, a professor at the University of Washington, argues that the diversity of data also matters, suggesting that having more diverse data from regions like Europe could be more beneficial for AI learning than the massive data from China's population.
Tech standoff: Chips at stake
Strained relations between the US and China have led to US-imposed export restrictions on advanced memory chips, which are crucial for China's AI development. According to Paul Scharre from the Center for a New American Security, denying China access to these chips could prevent them from building advanced AI systems and widen the technology gap as chip technology continues to progress. However, this could also drive investment in China's domestic semiconductor market as local producers strive to enhance their own chips.
Another potential advantage for China lies in the fact that US machine learning platforms are currently open source — freely available to be copied and modified. As Scharre warns, if China has access to the trained AI models, they won't necessarily need advanced chips. This could potentially render the US's export controls ineffective.
China's internal hurdles in AI
Despite its ambitions, China still has several hurdles to cross before it can rule the AI space. Government censorship could limit the full learning potential of AI models. Also, the tech sector has been facing stricter rules and enforcement in recent years, making Chinese executives more risk-averse. Moreover, despite efforts to build a robust AI talent pool, China struggles to retain top tech workers who are in global demand and may prefer democratic environments.
China's rapid AI deployment
Regardless of the obstacles, there's consensus that China is making remarkable progress in AI implementation across society. Even though China's AI labs may currently lag behind leading Western labs, the gap is narrowing. The unrestricted deployment of AI in China, with its massive population, provides a unique advantage that could potentially shift the balance in the global AI race.
