Nearly two years after Beijing\u2019s central planners\u00a0unveiled their ambitious plan<\/a>\u00a0to turn China in to the world leader in AI by 2030, the US has launched its own.<\/p>\n Last week, President Trump\u00a0signed an executive order<\/a>\u00a0directing the\u00a0country’s government to come up with a plan to sharpen America\u2019s edge in AI.<\/p>\n Signal,\u00a0<\/em>a newsletter on international affairs produced by\u00a0GZERO Media<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>presented a detailed insight on what’s to expect on\u00a0the emerging US approach to a field that will shape the global balance of power in coming decades.<\/p>\n [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”4,3,5,6″ ihc_mb_template=”3″ ]<\/p>\n You can visit their site here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The US and China both increasingly see success in AI as a national imperative, but to the extent that the countries are in a \u201crace\u201d to master AI, it\u2019s one between Silicon Valley and China\u2019s highly capable tech companies \u2013 not governments. Policies that flow from Washington and Beijing will play an important role in shaping how the AI revolution pans out, but government plans and the actual innovation needed to get there are two different things.<\/p>\n For decades, the US\u2019s national technology strategy has been one of benign neglect: keep the government out of the way and reap the benefits of private sector innovation. But that\u2019s now changing under pressure from an increasingly influential contingent of national security hawks. They\u2019re worried that if China catches up to or surpasses the US in AI or other key technology fields, it could blunt US military superiority and dull America\u2019s economic edge.<\/p>\n While Trump\u2019s executive order calls on federal agencies to come up with new ways to boost the AI sector in the US, such as making more federal data available for training AI algorithms and prioritizing AI in government R&D funding, the main thrust of the\u00a0strategy is defensive. The order is focused on protecting America\u2019s AI advantage rather than using public resources to develop new technologies. If the ongoing trade war and recent\u00a0legal actions\u00a0<\/a>against Huawei are any guide, that could mean policies that make it harder for Chinese students to study in the US, or other efforts to limit Chinese access to US technologies \u2013 like semiconductors \u2013 that are key to making progress in AI.<\/p>\n The risk?<\/strong>\u00a0In a word, overreach. President Trump wants to protect American innovation, but there\u2019s a danger that the US ends up\u00a0shooting itself in the foot<\/a> by cutting off the cross-border flows of capital, talent, and knowhow that Silicon Valley has historically tapped to make new breakthroughs.<\/p>\n When looked at on a national level,\u00a0the race for\u00a0artificial intelligence (AI)<\/a>\u00a0dominance is between two.<\/p>\nThe private sector is in the driver\u2019s seat<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The emerging US strategy: play defense<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Who is winning?<\/h2>\n
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