U.S. Should Collaborate with Other Powers to Beat China at AI, Group Says

The commission advised the U.S Congress on the need to lead the race in Artificial Intelligence.

| Nov 06, 2019 09:05 AM EST

Created: Nov 06, 2019 09:05 AM EST

Some are likening the race for dominance in artificial intelligence technology to the Cold War. With such a dangerous technology at its behest, the world leader in AI will have an enormous advantage over other world powers.

That's why a commission that advises the U.S. Congress says it will encourage it to work with other democratic forces to amass what AI feeds on: data.

The race for AI supremacy

The commission, which has former Google CEO Eric Schmidt as a member, is set to recommend the U.S. government to join other world powers so as not to fall behind China when it comes to AI.

By pooling data together, various countries could gain an advantage in the race for AI supremacy, The Washington Post reports.

The news comes from Robert O. Work, a former deputy defense secretary and a leader of the U.S. National Security Commission on AI.

“We’ve met so far with the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, Canada, and the Australians,” Work told The Washington Post.

“A lot of people say China has an advantage because it has so much more data. But by aggregating all of the democratic nations and working together, we feel that we can offset any problem in that regard.”

Eric Shmidt also spoke of the importance of challenging China's bid to be world leaders in AI:

“There’s somebody on the horizon who is different in values from us who is quite capable,” Schmidt said.

“We should do whatever it takes to make sure that the U.S. wins in this space.”

Data is power

Data is a multi-billion dollar industry, and it will only grow as data-fueled technologies like AI become more advanced.

It's used to train powerful AI systems to recognize patterns in human and machine behavior, to train AI on images, sounds, and objects. Essentially data is AI's window to the outside world.

However, huge amounts of data are needed to train AI systems effectively, and China collects more data from its civilians than any other country.

The race is on, and China already has a head start.