Market dominance in AI should not be a competition among nations. However, in recent years, some analysts have sounded an alarm– asserting that China, an authoritarian regime, could achieve comparative advantage in AI due to several factors including its large supply of government capital, excellent infrastructure; large supply of well-trained engineers, data, and computer scientists; huge troves of data; and its AI and data governance paradigm.

But recent developments challenge that hypothesis. First, the government has bullied tech managers and investors and altered its approach to regulation. The COVID lockdown has altered investment patterns and US policies have disincentivized shared research and corporate partnership. Finally, Western companies have created widely utilized large visual and language learning models such as DALL-E and ChatGPT. These models have been described as the next platform shift, because they can be easily deployed across existing technologies.

Taken in sum, these developments could have wide ranging impacts on global economic and political relations. Our speaker, Jeffry Ding will provide insights into the state of AI in China, as well as its governance.

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