Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Eric Schmidt and Bob Work: Our AI 'Sputnik Moment' Is Now (breakingdefense.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the no-time-like-the-present dept.

schwit1 shares a report from Breaking Defense: China's just announced an AI strategy designed to assure it will be dominant in the host of technologies by 2030. "If you believe this is important, as I believe, then we need to get our act together as a country," [Alphabet Exec Chairman Eric] Schmidt said this morning. In a Q and A session at the event organized by the Center for a New American Security, Schmidt said he thought the U.S. will maintain its lead over the People's Republic of China for the next five years, but he expects China to catch up about then and pass us "extremely quickly." How important does China think AI can be? Former Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work told Breaking Defense the Chinese estimate they can boost economic growth with AI by 26 percent by 2030. "It's quite stunning," Work said. And, of course, the PRC's government has published a national strategy and released it to the world. What's the best response by the United States, I asked Work after Schmidt spoke. The federal government needs to answer this question at its highest levels, as happened after the Soviet Union stunned the world and launched the first satellite, Sputnik, Work said.

11 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Sputnik moment by rossdee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I was born 2 days after sputnik

    and we got to the moon in '69

    and haven't gone back there since '72

    sometimes progress just stalls

    1. Re:Sputnik moment by JoshuaZ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We didn't go back to the Moon but we do have hundreds of communication satellites, weather satellites, navigation satellites and others which are doing daily work integrated so much into your daily life that you don't even notice. Just because progress didn't occur in the way it was expected doesn't mean that space technology didn't have a massive impact.

  2. Compare AI to Sputnik? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Imagine if Sputnik never left the ground, and there was a huge campaign by businesses and media to convince everyone that Sputnik was flying around in orbit. That's AI.

  3. Read: give us government money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "The federal government needs to answer this question at its highest levels"

    Schmidt is lobbying for free tax money. Their multi-billion advertising company apparently cannot pay the bill, so please, ordinary people, pay it for them, and then the profits will be theirs.

  4. Great: the Shoe will be on the Other Foot by jaa101 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This should be great. Then China will have technology secrets worth stealing and hackers from elsewhere in the world can pirate them. Or other countries can require the Chinese to manufacture their AI products locally, in cooperation with local companies, who can rip off trade secrets. China will be pulling their weight in technological advancement and balancing up the flow of stolen trade secrets. Where's the problem?

    1. Re:Great: the Shoe will be on the Other Foot by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Exclusivity is a failed policy. Forget about trying to enforce intellectual property, it just holds the country back and doesn't work anyway. Keep innovating, develop skilled employees that can't be easily replicated, and develop high quality manufacturing.

      Look at Germany as an example. Massive high end manufacturing base, industry leading tech, and they are happy to both export their tech and import Chinese tech when needed. Their car industry, for example, is demonstrating self driving and driver aids, while also importing electric drive train tech and parts from China because they need to catch up.

      Chinese cars are starting to become available in Europe. Thing is, people don't pick cars based just on cost. They don't buy an iPhone because it is value for money, and the iPhone and much of the tech in it is designed and manufactured in China. The only thing intellectual property laws are used for is for big companies like Apple and Samsung to sue each other.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  5. a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury... by sheramil · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would like to see fewer announcements about AI based on other peoples' wild claims about AI's future, and more based on actual achievements. I know it can be difficult to quantify an "achievement" in this field, but, wow, the sheer volume of woo, fairy dust and unicorn farts we're getting is incredible . It's like taking the CGI in skin care advertisements seriously, and believing that we already have functioning nanotech.

  6. Re:Has Anyone Else Noticed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The chinese didn't steal anything. You gave them the blueprints and said 'you makey much cheap, chop chop'. You paid them peanuts and now you're surprised that they weren't actually just dancing monkeys.

  7. Future is AI war by hlavac · · Score: 4, Funny

    So the last world war will be Chinese AI God Emperor vs Russian AI Military Dictator vs USA AI IP Monopolist. European AI Bureaucrat will be still compiling the european law so will not participate

  8. Sputnik moment? by pablo_max · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A Sputnik moment implies that the US is in some kind of race. In fact, they are not competing in a race. They are on the field and walking around the track, but they are not aware that there are other runners on the starting line preparing to begin sprinting.

    I do not believe that the US is capable in this moment to have any sort of "moon shot" program in any area. Back in the 50's and 60's, most Americans trusted their government and they trusted American business to "do the right thing". Those days are over. These days a deep mistrust exists between the population and their governmental and corporate masters, and rightfully so.
    My personal opinion, any perhaps you disagree, is that in the current climate, it is simply unthinkable to pour treasure into massive national "science" type programs.
    American only has enough money to support the war machine... not to increase the knowledge base of the betterment of all.
    Hell, there are loads of Americans who actively oppose the government spending any money on research or science in general. I suppose that is not a surprise given the rise of people in the US who do not "believe" in global warming and the damn scientists are just after those fat research grants.
    How much money to those morons think the average scientist makes? Because...it is not a lot.

  9. Yeah, sure by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does no one remember history?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_generation_computer

    Japanese claim they are taking over AI. US and EU panic and talk about DOOOOOM! Absolutely nothing happens.