China is outsmarting America in artificial intelligence

Beijing is backing its artificial intelligence push with vast sums of money. Having already spent billions on research programs, China is readying a new multibillion-dollar initiative to fund moonshot projects, start-ups and academic research, all with the aim of growing China's AI capabilities, according to two professors who consulted with the government on the plan. China's private companies are pushing deeply into the field as well, although the line between government and private in China sometimes blurs. China is spending more just as the United States is cutting back. This past week, the Trump administration released a proposed budget that would slash funding for a variety of government agencies that have traditionally backed artificial intelligence research.