China and the U.S. target AI in the race for technological supremacy

As tensions and tech rivalry between the U.S. and China intensify, artificial intelligence is taking center stage. During the recent Tortoise Global AI Summit, panelists discussed the increasingly fraught relationship between these global superpowers, whose rivalry had shown signs of bitterness even before President Trump launched a trade war. While this competition extends across a wide range of technologies, the panelists agreed AI has increasingly become a focal point, thanks to the essential role many predict it will play in the coming decades. And not only is the race for AI supremacy pitting China against the U.S., it is forcing every other country to reassess their place in this technological duel. "We're seeing a technology competition in the context of a worsening relationship between the world's two great powers," said John Sawers, former head of the U.K.'s MI6 spy agency.