Principles versus profit: AI and the fate of the planet - SiliconANGLE

It seems as if everybody is starting to look at artificial intelligence as some sort of make-or-break technology for the human race. Where the fate of the planet is concerned, there is an increasing collision between the nationalistic view that AI's overriding purpose is to help countries hold their own in geopolitical struggles and the humanitarian view that AI should deliver the benefits of material prosperity to all peoples, serving as an activist force in the universal struggle for equality, free expression, personal autonomy and democratic governance. The nationalistic perspective keeps popping out in headlines. For example, there are the sentiments expressed in this recent article by Horacio Rozanski, chief executive of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. He discusses what he regards as a "close race" between the United States and China in developing and exploiting AI. I've been exploring AI benchmarking initiatives recently, and I take issue with the assumption that we can validly benchmark one nation against another in this regard.