Who Benefits From American AI Research in China? - MacroPolo

Who benefits from the research breakthroughs made in the China-based research labs of American artificial intelligence (AI) companies? Just five years ago, that question hardly ever came up, and if it was asked, the answer often centered on the shared benefits of global research. The field of machine learning has made major strides, China's technology markets and its surveillance apparatus have boomed, and technological competition has moved to the center of the US-China relationship. What do all these changes mean for the overseas research labs of leading American technology companies? To answer that question, it's useful to zoom in on a specific research breakthrough to examine the ideas, institutions, and people involved in it. By tracing those factors over time, a better assessment can be made on where the benefits from this research flow to, and how government policies and corporate practices can best shape those flows.