Artificial Intelligence, or AI, represents the cutting edge of technology and may be the defining creation of humankind. How countries research AI and plan to utilize it is different for all countries. Nations such as China and the US are at the forefront of the technology, pushing research and development in order to be the first to unlock new abilities.
There has been a misconception over the past year over just how much money China has invested into AI. In a speech given by a top US Air Force General in 2018, China was claimed to be spending $70 billion by 2020, up from a recent estimate of only $12 billion. But a new estimate from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) show that China is actually spending far less on AI, and in particular military applications of AI. The study has shown that most of China’s AI research is going into non militaristic applications; such as fundamental algorithm development, robotics research, and smart infrastructure development. While the US is spending most of its AI R&D money on military applications.
This recent study estimates that China’s upper bound of total AI spending in 2018 was actually around $8.4 billion, far lower than previous “projections” had stated. This is good news for the US. The less China spends on AI the less pressure there is on the US to rapidly develop the technology. That we can take our time to responsibly develop the tech and implement it in non defense applications much more than previously thought.
Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614842/china-us-ai-military-spending/