China’s Technological Surge: A Challenge to US Dominance
In July 2023, China’s top leaders seemed to be in the dark about the true potential of artificial intelligence during a meeting with Eric and Henry Kissinger. The air was thick with economic malaise. However, just 19 months later, Selina witnessed a palpable optimism during her return visit to China. Dinner conversations revolved around DeepSeek and other AI chatbots, electric cars zipped by, and drone food delivery apps were all the rage. The ‘Spring Festival Gala,’ China’s most-watched TV program, featured Unitree humanoid robots dancing and spinning handkerchiefs onstage, catapulting the company to overnight fame.
This is the China we’re dealing with – a nation that’s either at par with or pulling ahead of the United States in various technologies, particularly at the AI frontier. China has developed a significant edge in disseminating, commercializing, and manufacturing tech. History has shown that the fastest adopters and diffusers of technology emerge victorious. It’s no surprise that China has chosen to retaliate forcefully against America’s recent tariffs.
For too long, we’ve clung to the notion that America is always ahead. But to win the race for the future of technology and global leadership, we must discard this belief. China was once slow to the game – in 2007, only about 10% of its population was online, and Alibaba was seven years away from listing on the NYSE. The AI race initially followed this pattern, with China’s chatbots estimated to be years behind US counterparts after ChatGPT’s debut in November 2022. Yet, Silicon Valley failed to anticipate China’s swift development of cheap, state-of-the-art competitors. Today, Chinese AI models are closing the gap with their US counterparts. DeepSeek’s March update to its V3 large language model is, by some benchmarks, the best non-reasoning model.
The stakes are high, and the US must recognize China’s technological advancements to remain competitive. The future of global leadership hangs in the balance, and it’s time for America to reassess its position in the tech race.
