Geopolitics of AI

Continuing to see more AI development from China. This AcAm article provides a non technical article.

The Geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence
As the U.S. and China vie for global influence, AI will be central to the balance of power
By Abishur Prakash on July 11, 2019

Something stood out of the ordinary during a speech by China’s president, Xi Jinping, in January 2018. Behind Xi, on a bookshelf, were two books on artificial intelligence (AI). Why were those books there? Similar to 2015, when Russia “accidentally” aired designs for a new weapon, the placement of the books may not have been an accident. Was China sending a message?

If it was, perhaps, it was this: For decades, China has been operating in an Americanized-world. To escape, China is turning to AI.

 Implications of China's AI

By 2030, China wants to be the world’s leading AI power, with an AI industry valued at $150 billion. How does China plan to achieve this?

Take health care. Ping An, a large Chinese conglomerate, has unveiled AI doctors. It has launched clinics known as “One-Minute Clinic,” where AI doctors diagnose symptoms and propose medications. Within three years, Ping An plans to build hundreds of thousands of these clinics across China.

Could China export 10,000 AI doctors to Russia? Such a move would transform geopolitics.

The biggest impact is that it would shift the China-Russia relationship, from energy and currency, areas that the U.S. can influence, to Chinese AI, over which the U.S. has no control. The AI doctors may make Russian society more China-centric, and future generations in Russia may be more familiar with Ping An than with IBM or Intel.

There are other geopolitical implications too.  .... "