Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt believes the US is “way ahead of China” in AI.
“In the case of artificial intelligence, we are way ahead, probably two or three years ahead of China, which in my world is an eternity,” Schmidt said in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday. “I think we’re in pretty good shape.”
Schmidt served as CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 and remained its chairman until 2015. After his departure, Schmidt invested in various AI companies, including Anthropic. He also became Chairman of the Ministry of Defense Innovation Council in 2016 and chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence for three years.
Schmidt said the United States would be the clear winner in the AI race, provided it doesn’t squander its lead. Since China seeks to dominate certain industries, the United States must compete with them and win, he added.
By early 2024, China had approved more than 40 AI models over a six-month period, including 14 new expanded language models approved for public use within a week. Baidu, a search engine giant nicknamed “the Google of China,” is leading the pack.
Schmidt discussed four factors that contributed to his view that China is behind in the AI arms race.
Flea shortage
Schmidt said China is “struggling because of chips” and shortages.
In another interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Schmidt said China has been held back by the Trump and Biden administrations, which have restricted access to high-speed chips, particularly Nvidia chips.
“They’re certainly angry about it,” Schmidt said.
Chips are a crucial part of efforts to scale AI. Technological tensions between the United States and China have pushed the government to produce semiconductors in the United States. In November 2023, the US Department of Commerce implemented the Advanced Computer Chip Rule, making it more difficult for China to import advanced AI chips from US manufacturers.
The Biden administration recently considered imposing sanctions on several Chinese semiconductor companies linked to Huawei in March.
Schmidt thinks there is less Chinese hardware with which to train AI models
Schmidt also said in the CNBC interview that there isn’t as much Chinese material available to train large language models. Since English dominates the Internet, research papers, and books on which large language models train, he believes that English provides a larger pool of information from which to learn.
“That’s why English is so strong in these major language patterns,” Schmidt said.
Additionally, most of the training data is in English, he added, which could lead to misunderstandings and misinterpretations in other languages.
Reduced funding
Schmidt said China was also facing a dramatic reduction in foreign investment and venture capital. Meanwhile, the United States has exploded in these areas, he said.
China has been in economic decline for several years and continues to face deflation problems.
In November 2023, it experienced its first investment deficit as tensions in the United States intensified and Western countries turned away from corporate participation.
Focusing on the wrong areas
The former Google CEO said China was focused on creating for-profit app companies that could ultimately succeed. But they are not platform-focused, he argued.
“Three or four of the top U.S. apps are actually of Chinese origin,” Schmidt said. “But for the moment, the leadership is the United States.”
While apps like TikTok may be successful, some industry experts believe China is lagging behind when it comes to fundamental AI models, according to a CNBC report.
“We should be very proud to be here,” Schmidt said. “America invented this future and this particular future of AI and quantum and other technologies that people are talking about. We have a chance to dominate the world in the next 10 or 20 years if we do it correctly. “.
businessinsider
