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

by Kai-Fu Lee

the Chinese mentality is that you can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

When the true power of artificial intelligence is brought to bear, the real divide won’t be between countries like the United States and China. Instead, the most dangerous fault lines will emerge within each country, and they will possess the power to tear them apart from the inside.

If left unchecked, AI will dramatically exacerbate inequality on both international and domestic levels. It will drive a wedge between the AI superpowers and the rest of the world, and may divide society along class lines that mimic the dystopian science fiction of Hao Jingfang.

I’ve stopped viewing my life as an algorithm that optimizes for influence. Instead, I try to spend my energy doing the one thing I’ve found that truly brings meaning to a person’s life: sharing love with those around us.

If we remain trapped in a mindset that equates our economic value with our worth as human beings, this transition to the age of AI will devastate our societies and wreak havoc on our individual psychologies.

I no longer think about what will be written on my tombstone. That’s not because I avoid thinking about death. I’m now more aware than ever that we all live in direct and constant relationship to our own mortality. It’s because I know that my tombstone is just a piece of stone, a lifeless rock that can’t compare with the people and memories that make up the rich tapestry of a human life. I recognize that I’m just beginning to learn what so many people around me understood intuitively all their lives.