Fighting for AI Supremacy Is So 20th Century
Antiquated notions of nation-state rivalry only distract attention from the effort to solve complex social and technological challenges.
The development of AI isn’t a zero-sum game.
Photographer: Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
Artificial intelligence should be hard to squeeze into the antiquated framework of nation-state competition. AI is not a territory, a scarce resource or a fiercely protected technology like nuclear weaponry; it’s theoretically borderless thanks to abundant open research; the physical raw materials required for its development — like silicon — are cheap and plentiful; and ultimately, the only major constraint to its spread is the ability of people to learn.
Yet the competition narrative, usually pitting the U.S. against China, is powerful and expressed in the terms of utmost urgency. “We must win the AI competition that is intensifying strategic competition with China,” the U.S. National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, chaired by former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt, wrote in its final report to Congress earlier this year.