It is a conceptual mistake to presume that competing with China at the frontier is the only issue, much less the end of the story of the future. Much of China’s tech policy and investment is directed at tech-enabled transformation of traditional industries and sectors, which will de facto lock in Chinese dominance. And for much of the world, including in Asia where U.S.-China competition is especially acute, the issue with AI is ultimately about use cases, e.g., AI applied to healthcare or service delivery or manufacturing, not the frontier per se. China is doing things on AI and tech in that space that matter hugely, I think.
I wrote this
@Forbes piece a couple of years ago on Chinese tech strategies under Xi. So-called “new productive forces” aren’t only concentrated at the frontier: