As the rapid development of artificial intelligence triggers a renewed debate about its risks, the United States and China keep racing to develop increasingly powerful models.
The U.S. has outpaced China and other countries in AI model capabilities, research, citations and other areas. China has been rapidly catching up as an AI superpower even as U.S.-led restrictions have blocked China from accessing some of the most advanced technologies, including the cutting-edge chips and the machines to make them.
Experts and recent reports, like one by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, said China has emerged as an AI counterweight to the U.S. and this year appears to be erasing the U.S. lead.
“The gap between U.S. and Chinese models is narrow and fragile,” said Samm Sacks, a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies’ Institute for America, China and the Future of Global Affairs.
But both the U.S. and China have also expressed growing concerns over AI. The current debate takes on greater importance ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to Washington this month to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, and as experts say the future of AI will depend significantly on what China and the U.S. do and don’t do.
