[ad_1]
Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. The United States has sought to isolate China from key technologies such as advanced semiconductors over the past few years. The two sides are likely to discuss technical tensions, but analysts said it is unlikely that much will change even as both sides look to improve relations.
Leah Mellis | AFP | Getty Images
Generative AI, the technology behind the viral chatbot ChatGPT, could be a new battleground in the battle for technological supremacy between the United States and China, according to one analyst.
Although the two countries are seeking to improve relations yet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping This week, analysts said technical tensions will continue.
Washington sought to isolate China from key technology such as semiconductors while China sought to enhance its self-sufficiency and wean itself off US technology, by promoting its domestic sectors.
“The status quo is unlikely to change much on any front — from sanctions to business pressures,” Abishur Prakash, CEO of Toronto-based consulting firm Geopolitical Business, told CNBC via email.
Artificial intelligence, which is viewed by both countries as an important technology, is likely to be drawn into the battle between the two sides.
Artificial intelligence in the crosshairs
Meanwhile, the United States has sought to boost its domestic technology, including semiconductors, with funding such as $52 billion is available through the Chips and Science Act.
Washington’s attention is now likely to turn to generative AI.
“There will likely be more attempts coming from Washington to target the development of some types of applications in China, and generative AI could be in the crosshairs next year,” said Paul Triolo, head of technology policy at consultancy Albright Stonebridge. CNBC.
He added that this comes “as the Biden administration identifies technologies that can benefit both China’s military modernization and that can also enhance the ability of Chinese companies to make breakthroughs in the field of generative artificial intelligence.”
Generative AI is associated with applications such as ChatGPT that are able to generate content when requested by users.
How US restrictions target artificial intelligence
AI needs to be trained on huge amounts of data in order to work. Generative AI is based on so-called big language models, which means it is trained on a huge amount of language in order to be able to understand and respond to users’ prompts.
Processing this data requires a great deal of computing power which is powered by certain semiconductors, such as those sold by the US company Nvidia, which is seen as the market leader in such chips.
Part of the current US restrictions are intended to Cutting off China from some of Nvidia’s key chips, which in turn could hamper the development of AI in China.
Washington is also conducting a Foreign Investment Review, which would set rules for US investment in foreign companies.
“The upcoming Foreign Investment Review Executive Order will include restrictions on US investment in certain AI-related technologies, and this will be a key indicator of the direction of US technology controls in the last two years of the Biden administration,” Triolo said.
China’s push for generative AI
ChatGPT, developed by the US OpenAI company, has taken the world by storm and kind of sparked an AI arms race among US technology companies including Microsoft, investor, and Alphabet.
Chinese tech giants have taken notice.
Over the past few months, Chinese tech giants from Baidu to Alibaba have owned it They announced plans and launched trials for their ChatGPT competitors.
The Blinkin-Xi meeting isn’t likely to change much
Washington asserts that its actions are in the interest of national security and target specific sensitive technologies.
China did not respond much. However, last month Chinese regulators banned operators of “critical information infrastructure” from buying chips from the US company Micron, claiming that the company’s products failed a network security review.
Technology wasn’t talked about in public much when Linkin recently met with Xi of China, but the two sides no doubt discussed it.
Triolo told CNBC that the United States likely raised issues regarding the treatment of Micron when China was going to bring up export controls.
“Beijing views this package (export controls), the US chip law and science, as a one-two punch designed to separate China’s semiconductor industry from the global semiconductor ecosystem,” Triolo said.
However, the two sides are somewhat stalemate.
Blinken spoke about areas of cooperation between the US and China such as the climate crisis and the economy. But advanced technology is one area in which the two countries still compete.
“But at the same time, as I said, it is not in our interest to provide technology to China that could be used against us,” Blinken said Monday.
“What China wants, the US will not provide, like opening the chip ecosystem to Beijing or not scrutinizing Chinese investment in US technology,” Prakash said. The battle between the United States and China Because technological supremacy is about to enter its zenith.”
Unlike previous flashpoints, like over 5G or TikTok, when both sides still believed differences could be patched, those ideas are now politically dead. The gulf between the United States and China has widened dramatically – and neither superpower wants to narrow differences.
[ad_2]
