McKinsey Global Institute posted a podcast of "Jeffrey Ding, researcher and founder of the ChinAI Newsletter, about information asymmetry in artificial intelligence between China and the West." The June 23, 2021 podcast entitled "Forward Thinking on China and artificial intelligence with Jeffrey Ding" included these comments from Jeffrey Ding:

I think the most important and salient aspect of AI for US-China competition is in the economic realm.

We know historically that general-purpose technologies bring with them huge upsurges in productivity growth.

The best example of that is with electricity and American productivity growth in the 1920s.

And the key challenge for China right now is how to sustain economic growth when their demographic dividend is declining and when they're trying to climb the value chain in all these different areas, most notably in manufacturing.

And so a general-purpose technology like AI provides a potential way for China to continue to sustain really high levels of economic growth, which feeds into all the other domains I'm talking about, whether it's performance legitimacy for their style of governance, whether it's how economic developments will also undergird military prowess.

That's really the most important part of how AI will affect the US-China power balance, at least in my opinion.

Please take some time a listen to this AI podcast!

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.