China today announced plans to become a global leader in AI research and development. The country will increase government spending on basic AI programs to 22 billion dollars in the coming years, with plans to spend almost 60 billions of dollars a year to 2025.
The announcement sends a clear message: It is the era of artificial intelligence.
Reuters reports that the Chinese government will soon issue regulations for the AI sectors covering security, implementation and control. The USA issued a similar statement last year at a White House review of the future of AI.
The US and China are reportedly leading the field in both private and government spending for the US machine learning and artificial intelligence, although experts have stated that China's deep learning programs have outgrown the research that is being conducted in America on the field and volume.
Private AI research needs a lot cash by US and Chinese companies, but they also have huge benefits: Microsoft and China's Baidu saw a rally in the stock market after announcing a partnership on autonomous car research.
But they are not all enthusiastic: The US army has a number of reservations about its involvement in a power play for AI's global forces.
US General Paul Selva expressed concern over the fact that he was in control of the AI in the army, saying at a meeting of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that he would rather see things stay below a direction that is somewhat more humane.
However, he said:
This does not mean that we must not tackle the development of such technologies, potentially identify their vulnerabilities and exploit them.
The Chinese government has also expressed its concerns. The country's Premier Li Keqiang called AI a “strategy technology» this year and today's announcement says:
The situation with China on national security and international competition is complex; we must take the initiative to firmly understand this new stage in the development of artificial intelligence in order to create a new competitive advantage.
It remains to be seen who will become the world leader in artificial intelligence.
