The U.S. and China are not running different AI races.
The conventional wisdom is China cares about translating AI advances into economic and military power (diffusion), while America cares about developing the most advanced AI models at the frontier (innovation).
But after speaking with Chinese investors, researchers, and policymakers, we think they have the same goals as their American counterparts: to build the best models and deploy them widely.
While some differences in China’s approach do exist, they are not evidence of diverging long-term goals or a philosophical commitment to diffusion over innovation.
They are a pragmatic response given that Chinese officials, labs, and companies operate in a different environment. And many of these differences are already fading.
So why then do so many think China is running a different race?
Mostly, four reasons: (1) Chinese labs lead on open-weight models;(2) Chinese policy documents emphasize diffusion; (3) Chinese companies integrate AI into the industrial economy and physical world faster, and (4) Chinese policymakers take frontier risks less seriously.
In @asteriskmgzn, @DuncanCorbin and I break down these reasons and explain why it matters that the two countries may in fact want the same things from AI. Read more below.
