The United States is locked in an intensifying competition with China to develop advanced artificial intelligence. The stakes are high, given AI’s far-reaching consequences for national security, defense, and the economy. However, the focus on which country develops the most advanced AI models obscures the true nature of the race.
The Importance of Adoption
Raw performance matters, but second-best models can offer significant value to users, especially if they are cheap, open-sourced, and widely used. The real lesson from China’s DeepSeek AI model is that AI competition is not just about developing the most advanced models, but also about which country can adopt them faster across its economy and government.
To preserve the U.S. lead in AI, the government needs to supercharge the adoption of AI across the military, federal agencies, and the wider economy. This involves setting rules that focus on transparency and choice, boosting trust, and enabling the development of cloud infrastructure and new sources of energy. The U.S. should also help the industry export American AI products to support U.S. companies, entrench democratic values, and forestall Chinese technological dominance.
The Coming Wave of AI Adoption
Most AI adoption will come through human-machine cooperation, improving existing workflows. For the U.S. military, this means improving how militaries and intelligence agencies use data and make decisions. AI will enable better threat detection, more detailed planning exercises, and streamlined back-end processes. Countries that adopt AI faster will reap its economic and military benefits.
Winning the AI Diffusion Race
The U.S. government cannot simply focus on preserving the lead in frontier models; it must foster lower-cost, more efficient models that can be widely deployed. Policymakers should design AI regulation to enable responsible technology diffusion, focusing on transparency and choice. A better approach is to mitigate risks while encouraging rapid adoption of trusted tools.
Adopting AI at Scale
To accelerate domestic adoption, the U.S. needs to make foundational investments in chip production, data centers, and energy. The government should prioritize the rapid adoption of AI by its own agencies, directing federal dollars toward AI technologies and streamlining procurement. Federal investment can reassure businesses and consumers that AI tools are safe and reliable.
The competition for AI leadership is likely to be mostly about adoption. The U.S. needs to cut through red tape while accelerating foundational investments, stronger energy grids, low-cost technologies, and strategic partnerships that will make possible the use of AI at scale.
