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Beijing Wants AI To Be Made In China By 2030 (nytimes.com)
Reader cdreimer writes: According to a report on The New York Times (may be paywalled, alternative story here): "If Beijing has its way, the future of artificial intelligence will be made in China. The country laid out a development plan on Thursday to become the world leader in A.I. by 2030, aiming to surpass its rivals technologically and build a domestic industry worth almost $150 billion. Released by the State Council, the policy is a statement of intent from the top rungs of China's government: The world's second-largest economy will be investing heavily to ensure its companies, government and military leap to the front of the pack in a technology many think will one day form the basis of computing. The plan comes with China preparing a multibillion-dollar national investment initiative to support "moonshot" projects, start-ups and academic research in A.I., according to two professors who consulted with the government about the effort."
Imagine AI that is able to handle ordinary mundane tasks. Now imagine introducing that technology to a country that has 800 million citizens incapable of anything but ordinary mundane tasks. Either you have to keep the people happy with handouts or you need to get rid of the people...
The first country that gets true general AI basically wins, unless the gap time til the next country gets it is very small.