Artificial Intelligence Isn't an Arms Race

At the last Democratic presidential debate, the technologist candidate Andrew Yang emphatically declared that "we're in the process of potentially losing the AI arms race to China right now." As evidence, he cited Beijing's access to vast amounts of data and its substantial investment in research and development for artificial intelligence. Yang and others--most notably the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, which released its interim report to Congress last month--are right about China's current strengths in developing AI and the serious concerns this should raise in the United States. But framing advances in the field as an "arms race" is both wrong and counterproductive. Instead, while being clear-eyed about China's aggressive pursuit of AI for military use and human rights-abusing technological surveillance, the United States and China must find their way to dialogue and cooperation on AI.