Data Analytics and AI by Liebowitz Jay;

Author:Liebowitz, Jay;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Auerbach Publishers, Incorporated

6.6 Conclusions

The government of China’s strategic objectives, governance conventions, and the cultural norms of the Chinese people closely impact the contours of the economic and technological leadership that China demonstrates in AI today. The free-for-all in data collection in the Chinese “Wild, Wild East” of AI development is only possible due to the country’s much more permissive norms surrounding privacy* combined with the Chinese model of governance which permits more integrated collaboration between state institutions and private industry. As China establishes AI as a national priority and stakes important political capital on global leadership in AI, it is clear that the issue will continue to be taken very seriously.

* It’s worth pointing out that the permissiveness of Chinese privacy law is sometimes contested as the country has released some policies that appear to suggest even higher personal privacy standards than employed by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is often viewed as a protective standard. On close examination however, many of these policies seem to be superficial, lacking enforcement mechanisms or much by way of serious commitment. For more see: Sacks, January 29, 2018.

The security sector in China proves to be a central hub of activity in AI for a variety of reasons, and likely will continue to be. Some of this is deeply rooted in Chinese governance practices, such as the perceived need to keep close watch on foreign technology firms or the standing concern about the security risk posed by China’s own citizenry. Other reasons are much more pragmatic, such as the ability to mount a legal defense in the event of the sanction of industries of national interest or the opportunity to support innovation in AI in a way that was convenient given other security objectives. This has allowed not only for the rapid development of hard surveillance infrastructure and data collection, but also for these to be integrated with parallel efforts to support AI development in that space.

This strategy has given China a vast gap in leadership in AI applications related to security specifically and related areas like facial recognition more generally. The Chinese approach to AI and security has been a major force in China’s overall level of progress with AI and is certainly helping the country’s pursuit of global leadership. Kai Fu Lee has famously suggested that this makes the United States and China (as the two leading jurisdictions for AI) natural partners that can find synergies in one another’s structural strengths and weakness.† This represents a fairly optimistic view, and one which seems increasingly unlikely given the times. The relationship between AI and security is proving not only to be a core part of China’s AI strategy, but also one which is deeply divisive in liberal-democratic countries like the United States.

† Lee, 2018.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.