China could surpass the US in artificial intelligence tech. Here's how

China has several advantages when it comes to the artificial intelligence field, but chief among them is Chinese companies' access to troves of data. "(China has) done a fantastic job of moving its economy to cashless and when you can pay with everything with your phone, you amass a huge amount of data," author and columnist Thomas Friedman told CNBC. "When you can get these giant data sets, and then apply artificial intelligence to them," he said. "You're going to see better and better and more deep insight patterns than anyone else and I think it'll be a great advantage for China." On top of that, China doesn't have the same restrictive privacy laws as many other countries, making it easier for companies to collect data.