WASHINGTON – America’s leadership in high technology is threatened by China’s ambition to lead artificial intelligence market worldwide by 2030, three experts said Thursday, the same day trade talks resumed between the United States and China.
Speaking at the Brookings Institution, Rebecca A. Fannin, special columnist at Forbes and author of the book “Tech Titans of China”, warned the U.S. to pay attention to China’s leap forward on upcoming US-China tech race.
She said in the last decade, the trend shifted from “copied by China” to “copy from China,” and more and more Chinese tech companies have gotten support from the Chinese government with the goal of leading in certain sectors, such as mobile payments.
“Emails and credit cards are dead in China; people can do everything through their smartphones,” she said, citing WeChat and Alipay, two of the most popular digital payment apps in China.
“China could soon surpass the United States on e-commerce and fintech,” she said.
David Dollar, senior fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, cautioned that
China is leading in implementing AI into its cities, homes and businesses, but said the U.S. maintains leadership in AI research and development.
The Trump administration announced Monday it had put 28 Chinese governmental and commercial organizations on its entity list for human rights violations, requiring American companies to get approval before selling to them.