AI Superpower Race, Who is Winning and Why?
Let me share with you a story about a Chinese app that caught the attention of the United States President; it started as a knowledge short-video app but failed then transformed to a lip-sync app which also failed then it was eventually bought by their local opponents who then transformed it into one of the most famous apps in the world; TikTok the algorithm superpower of all apps. The U.S. previously and especially recently seems to be in this interesting state of unrest towards ‘dangerous’ Chinese apps and technology so one cannot help but wonder; in this race who will be labelled the Artificial Intelligence Superpower, China or the U.S.?
So what puts China in a better position? Shenzhen; the equivalent of the American Silicon Valley. The environment in Shenzhen is aggressive, they are gladiators in a colosseum (not the real stuff but rather the ones Hollywood portray) where there is no chance for the weak, the fights are brutal and they would only end if one of the gladiators die. Yes, it is hostile and supported by the government in this relationship between AI, the economy and the state. The Chinese entrepreneurs are living in a system that is based on speed, where copying is an accepted practice, competitors will stop at nothing to win and survival is based on product improvement; kill or be killed. Whereas Silicon Valley is the opposite, copying is frowned upon (mild copying is fairly accepted though), even lean start-ups take time to be established and the government is constantly calling entrepreneurs to testify rather than letting them get busy innovating (Lee, 2018).
Lastly and most importantly, algorithms. ByteDance is one of the several Chinese companies known to have software engineers who are laser focused on algorithms; they have a strong base and known reputation for being big on algorithms first with the news app Toutiao, then with Douyin and now with Tiktok. Algorithms depend on big data and big data is dependent on information gathered from users and with eased policies in China in addition to a team of engineers focused solely on that, you are destined to succeed. However, in the U.S. data privacy is a big deal, there is always a hurdle and laws that might be seen unfit sometimes for this digital age.
To be an AI superpower, a state must be equipped with speed, eased policies, hungry entrepreneurs, big data and an army of algorithm engineers. So far, China have ticked all the boxes.
Sources:
Lee, K-F (2018), AI Superpowers “China, Silicon Valley and the New World Order”, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/95943804/ai-superpowers/kai-fu-lee/
