It makes for compelling drama. It also misses the point.A key issue in the AI era is not who builds the most powerful model. It is what different societies want intelligence to do. And on that metric, China is not merely competing in a Western-defined race. It is redefining the destination.
In Silicon Valley, AI is framed as frontier exploration. What are the implications of general intelligence that rivals or exceeds human cognition? Should it be regulated? The US government largely maintains a hands-off posture, funding research while allowing private firms to lead.
