How to counter China's use of AI tech

• Published date: 05 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

Nowhere is the competition in developing artificial intelligence fiercer than in the accelerating rivalry between the United States and China. At stake in this competition is not just who leads in AI but who sets the rules for how it is used around the world.

China is forging a new model of digital authoritarianism at home and is actively exporting it abroad. It has launched a national-level AI development plan with the intent to be the global leader by 2030. And it is spending billions on AI deployment, training more AI scientists and aggressively courting experts from Silicon Valley.

The United States and other democracies must counter this rising tide of techno-authoritarianism by presenting an alternative vision for how AI should be used that is consistent with democratic values. But China's authoritarian government has an advantage. It can move faster than democratic governments in establishing rules for AI governance, since it can simply dictate which uses are allowed or banned.

One risk is that China's model for AI use will be adopted in other countries while democracies are still developing an approach more protective of human rights.

The Chinese Communist Party, for example, is integrating AI into surveillance cameras, security checkpoints and police cloud computing centers. As it does so, it can rely on world-class technology companies that work closely with the government. Lin Ji, vice president of iFlytek, one of China's AI "national team" companies, told me that 50 percent of its $1 billion in annual revenue came from the Chinese government.

The government is pouring billions of dollars into projects such as the Skynet and Sharp Eyes surveillance networks and a "social credit system," giving it a much larger role in China's AI industry than the role the U.S. government has in the industry here.

China is building a burgeoning panopticon, with more than 500 million surveillance cameras deployed nationwide by 2021 ? accounting for more than half of the world's surveillance cameras. Even more significant than government cash buoying the AI industry is the data collected, which AI companies can use to further train and refine their algorithms.

Facial recognition is being widely deployed in China, while a grassroots backlash in the U.S. has slowed deployment. Several U.S. cities and states have banned facial recognition for use by law enforcement. In 2020, Amazon and Microsoft placed a moratorium on selling facial-recognition technology to law...