Investors and scholars at the Web Summit Lisbon this week have said that despite escalating export controls and a race for tech sovereignty, China and the US remain locked in an AI ecosystem that neither side can fully step away from. The world’s two largest economies are bound by open-source models, shared business incentives and the exchange of talent, said speakers at the conference which drew 71,000 attendees.
A key differentiator between the two systems is invention versus scaling. The US remains a more fertile ground for 0-1 innovation, i.e. developing new products, but China’s ability to scale from 1-100 remains unmatched. And while trade limitations in sectors such as semiconductors have halted China’s access to products that would allow them to scale, open-source AI models are free to access and learn from.
Whether or not one side or the other takes an unassailable lead will depend on funding, and while both sides currently have the luxury of massive investments, be that from the state in China or the markets in the US, neither side will want the funding to dry up (or the bubble to pop) before steady monetization of AI products can be secured.