AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order

by Kai-Fu Lee

Of course, it’s too early to know the exact results of China’s AI campaign, but if Chinese history is any guide, it is likely to be somewhat inefficient but extremely effective. The sheer scope of financing and speed of deployment almost guarantees that there will be inefficiencies. Government bureaucracies cannot rapidly deploy billions of dollars in investments and subsidies without some amount of waste. There will be dorms for AI employees that will never be inhabited, and investments in startups that will never get off the ground. There will be traditional technology companies that merely rebrand themselves as “AI companies” to rake in subsidies, and AI equipment purchases that simply gather dust in government offices. But that’s a risk these Chinese government officials are willing to take, a loss they’re willing to absorb in pursuit of a larger goal: brute-forcing the economic and technological upgrading of their cities. The potential upside of that transformation is large enough to warrant making expensive bets on the next big thing. And if the bet doesn’t pan out, the mayors won’t be endlessly pilloried by their opponents for attempting to act on the central government’s wishes.