Two months later, the Chinese State Council unveiled its plan to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030,19 aiming to surpass all rivals, including the United States, as it built a domestic industry worth more than $150 billion. China was treating artificial intelligence like its own Apollo program. The government was preparing to invest in moonshot projects across industry, academia, and the military. As two university professors who were working on the plan told the New York Times, AlphaGo versus Lee Sedol was China’s Sputnik moment.
