Many in the US were surprised when the Chinese used DeepSeek to create a similar ChatGPT-like app to NVIDIA’s. They only spent $5.6 million (that’s millions, not billions). Note that in 2018, the Chinese government made AI a top priority.
China trained AI engineers, especially in imaging, voice recognition, and healthcare. The Chinese have a long-time horizon and do not look quarter to quarter.
Is China the world’s greatest polluter? Yes, but they have been building resources and infrastructure for years to dramatically reduce their carbon footprint. Their alternatives to coal and oil are wind, solar, and hydro in Tibet and the East. They transfer this power efficiently through DC (not AC as we do) to coastal areas where it fuels EV’s and electric trains. China will tip the scale in one or two years to alternative energy sources as they continue to expand wind and solar, as well as hydro with transmission lines.
In part they are leapfrogging over obsolete technology, like many emerging economies do. They use cell phones rather than land lines, for example. But they are using available technology, like DC, to transfer energy with greater efficiency than we do.
Here in the US, we have short memories. We forget that much of our technological advantage has come from immigrants. Look back at Alexander Graham Bell and Andrew Carnegie in the past. Elon Musk for all his faults has added much to innovation. Yet, we discourage foreign students who come here to study from staying. Check the immigrants who make up 17% of the Forbes 400 richest Americans. Check out the names and photos of the students who win prizes in science. Most of these students, or their parents, are not native-born Americans.
America’s current government uses grants to universities as a political tool, forgetting, again, that these funds have created basic research success. The Space Program, for example, spurred major new products; funding for science has saved lives. One advantage for success that the US boasts is freedom of thought and co-operation. Yet we have worked hard to profile anti-science in our healthcare and to reduce diversity, which has been a source of productivity in science.
On the other hand, though not perfect, China has a long -term plan which they are funding. Their education system has emphasized science and math.
Which one do you think is poised for more future success?
One Response
Interesting read. I also liked Dan Wang’s perspective (scholar at Stanford) who said that China’s fundamental advantage is its process knowledge (the practical knowledge gained from personal experience that is difficult to transfer to another person), like how to make iPhones, toys, and almost everything that we buy. US simply doesn’t have the infrastructure or process knowledge to leverage this advantage. And now that China has the hardware and software, what do they need us or anyone else for? We simply don’t have the human capital or process knowledge or infrastructure to do this without China. We spent so much time focusing on developing the technology abut not on actually making it. That part is always offshored (usually to China). Now they’ve gained all the practical know-how (AKA the process knowledge or tacit knowledge)—stuff that can’t simply be passed on to someone else—and you couple that with the fact that they’ve massively invested in engineering and tech innovation and all of the sudden they have the hardware, software, and process knowledge. They have all the tools and don’t need to rely on US or anyone. We have the first two, but not the process knowledge. And on top of that we’re not investing in research and tech innovation like we used to. We need a massive commitment the same way we had with Sputnik in 1957. But with the current administration I don’t see that happening. We’re screwed.