China plans to use AI to gain global economic dominance by 2030

Artificial intelligence may have been invented in the West, but China seems determined to own its future. Its rising AI community just got a tremendous shot in the arm, in the form of a massive new government investment plan. The State Council of the People's Republic of China has announced a bold scheme (link in Chinese) meant to build an AI industry worth $150 billion, and to make China the global leader in the field by 2030. Details of the plan are sure to cause consternation among policymakers, business leaders, and entrepreneurs in the U.S., especially as funding for research is slashed by a science-averse Trump administration. It will also, inevitably, stoke concerns about China's military ambitions, given the role AI is expected to play in the evolution of warfare. In truth, however, China's AI ascendancy is already well under way.