Based on the outcomes of the World Economic Forum, it appears that the United States is falling behind in more ways than one, including better understanding AI, CNBC says.
More specifically, and “most troubling for the American business leaders in Davos,” American attendees to the World Economic Forum learned how quickly the country was falling behind China. “Though it is a tech race most Western executives feel is only on its first laps, they heard how President Xi had declared a sort of space race or Manhattan Project around AI that is already delivering measurable results,” according to CNBC.
Stats on business executives’ understanding of and usage of AI were also reported at the forum, which CNBC called “a sign of the times.” For example, when business executives were asked if they felt AI or the internet would yield greater long-term impact, 84 percent of Chinese executives responded yes, with only 28 percent of their American peers agreeing. Additionally, 25 percent of Chinese executives reported that they used AI broadly, whereas only five percent of American executives did.
CNBC also said that Chinese companies have been scaling their AI initiatives, whereas American companies are often only at the piloting phase. XI Jinping, president of China, said that he is determined to take over the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is booming with breakthrough tech like artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, robotics, nanotechnology, bioengineering and quantum computing. “Countries that are most innovative and technologically advanced tend to dominate international relations,” CNBC says.
The lag in the United States’ response to wrangling this new Industrial Revolution, and President Trump’s absence from the World Economic Forum insinuate that America is stumbling as a world power. CNBC called both “an opportunity missed,” especially “at a time when Beijing is in overdrive.” If the United States continues to remove itself from these events and important conversations, such as ones surrounding international data governance norms, the country will keep falling behind, and China will continue to race to the top.
“The failure to respond would damage US interests for decades to come and accelerate the decline of US global leadership,” CNBC says.
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