Artificial intelligence is being adopted by almost every business and every industry at a dizzying pace. Even by automating the simplest of tasks we can see how AI provides immediate improvement in our everyday lives. And as advances are made in the ways that AI development and deployment can be executed, they will usher in an array of new uses and applications that will significantly transform our society in general. The reality here is that this transformation is already underway, and it has captured the attention of the U.S. and China specifically, and in a multitude of ways.
One of the most compelling perspectives on the development and deployment outlook for AI that I have read recently on this topic is Kai-Fu Lee’s book entitled, AI Superpowers. The book details how the “AI arms race” is playing out now, as well as some predictions about how China and the U.S. will battle it out in the not so distant future. Kai-Fu Lee, who was educated in the U.S. and worked for years in Silicon Valley, is one of the foremost authorities of AI in the world. As a senior business executive, he also opened and ran the China offices of Google, Apple and Microsoft. In his book, Lee illustrates a model for how to view AI capabilities, deployment, and advancement over the next five years. He also describes the two radically different approaches that each country is taking to accelerate AI advancement. He refers to this process in what he describes as The Four Waves of AI.
