The Missing Resistance in China’s AI Debate

(Yaqiu Wang – Lawfare) Trump’s visit to China in May was marked by pomp and circumstance but produced few breakthroughs. One of the summit’s few concrete results was an agreement to cooperate on “artificial intelligence (AI) guardrails.” The United States and China are locked in a modern-day space race over AI, with both governments viewing AI leadership as central to economic competitiveness, military power, and global influence. At the same time, the potentially catastrophic risks posed by advanced AI—from military escalation and cyberattacks to loss of human control over powerful systems—make some degree of cooperation not only desirable but necessary. But it remains unclear how the two countries would work together, given deep mistrust, fear on both sides that slowing technological development could mean losing out to the other, and differences in how the two sides define AI-related threats. One area where China has a clear competitive edge is that, compared with the United States, AI appears to face much less popular resistance in the country. In a 47-country KPMG survey, 69 percent of respondents in China said AI’s benefits outweighed its risks, compared with only 35 percent who felt the same in the United States. Many Chinese users seem pragmatic about AI: If a tool is useful and affordable, they readily use it. Meanwhile, the leaders of Chinese AI companies quietly focus on building AI tools, not philosophizing about societal transformation or advising how Beijing should address it. China can look more practical and focused toward technological innovation vis a vis the United States. But beneath the order is a state that suppresses dissent and a society in which people have little say over the kind of technological future being built in their name. – The Missing Resistance in China’s AI Debate | Lawfare