China Threatens U.S. Primacy In Artificial Intelligence.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

It is a statement that has been broadcasted and heard around the world: China intends to be the global leader of artificial intelligence by 2030. The country is putting its money where its mouth is, officials and analysts say, and making investments in AI that could threaten the United States and erode Washington's advantages in the technology.

"The Chinese Communist Party recognizes the transformational power of AI," Defense Secretary Mark Esper recently said during remarks at the Defense Department's AI Symposium and Exposition.

Beijing views the technology as a critical component to its future military and industrial power, said the Pentagon's recently released "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2020" annual report to Congress.

The country's "Next Generation AI Development Plan" details Beijing's strategy to employ commercial and military organizations to achieve major breakthroughs by 2025 and become the world leader by 2030, the report said.

Eric Schmidt, former executive chairman and CEO of Google and the chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, said the Asian power is rapidly catching up to the United States.

"We're a year or two ahead of China," he said. "We're not a decade ahead."

The general consensus is that leading AI research is still conducted in the United States, but its strategic competitor is advancing, he said during an event hosted by the Hoover Institution.

"We're in a contest, and part of the reasons I think that China may win is that they have five times as many people," Schmidt said. "They're very focused on STEM education. They have incentives now in their research community for people to publish papers.... The quality may not be there, but numerically they're there."

Husanjot Chahal, an analyst at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said

Chinese Communist Party leaders see the development of AI as a rare opportunity for China to surpass the United States.

Michael Brown, director of the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit, said the United States is in a "superpower marathon with China" to acquire advanced technology.

There are already areas where Beijing is ahead, he said. These include facial recognition software, small drones, quantum communications, telecommunications, genetic data, cryptocurrency and more, according to his presentation slides.

"Frankly, when I put this slide together, I was surprised by how...