China Is Leading in Artificial Intelligence--and American Businesses Should Take Note

Getting a foothold in the Chinese market is a dream for any business. But keep in mind that, in the age of A.I., businesses that can use machine and deep learning techniques to mine, refine, and make products from data culled from all areas of operation--from customer service to employee productivity--will gain a big edge. And access to the Chinese market for U.S. startups comes at a steep price: their business data. With that, and the data from China's almost 1.4 billion citizens, the BAT could soon command what's perhaps our most valuable resource--human data--without the privacy and security restrictions common in much of the rest of the world. In other words: If data is the new oil, China is the new OPEC. It will soon wield tremendous influence in global digital commerce, autonomous vehicles, and a renewed race to outer space.