China is competing with the United States to develop key technologies in the field of artificial intelligence and biological technologies. Before long it may be capable of using its advancements in support of its own economy, military and society to the detriment of others, according to a special study backed by the US Government. Last week Robert Work, who is chair of the US Naval Institute Board of Directors, former deputy defense secretary, and co-chair of the “Special Competitive Studies Project,” reported that international artificial intelligence and technological competition between the two states may result in the US losing out to China. In Work’s opinion, without question, China at a minimum is a national security threat to the US. He says the special panel found that soon China will be able to establish global surveillance and force American companies dependent on China for business to lose trillions of dollars.
Work argues that the United States must act now or accept that it will be reliant on China or other countries under Chinese influence for its core technologies. Heather Mongilio, writing in USNI, quotes Work as saying that “If that world happens, it’s going to be very bleak for democracy … China’s sphere of influence will grow as its technological platforms proliferate throughout the world, and they will be able to establish surveillance on a global scale… So that’s what losing looks like.”
China publicly calls 2025 the year that it will achieve global dominance in technology manufacturing. Mongilio points out that this leaves the US a single budget left to address the issue. SCSP CEO Yll Bajraktari says that by 2030 Beijing intends to be the AI global leader and that “The 2025-2030 timeframe is a really important period for our country and the global geopolitical security.” More and more American business and technology leaders are drawing the same conclusion. “The technological competition goes beyond conflict or a military focus,” notes Eric Schmidt, co-chair of the Special Competitive Studies Project and former Google CEO. “You can imagine the issues with having platforms dominated by non-western firms, which we rely on,” Schmidt said. He says that the Chinese-owned site Tik Tok is the number one-ranked social media site and the Chinese technology corporation Huawei already is outpacing America in 5G technology.
The Special Competititive Studies panel found that competition is played out in three battle spaces: artificial intelligence, chips, and 5G, notes Bajraktari. He says it is important “to get these three battlegrounds right… [and] critical because as I’ve said, this is not just about military competition. This is about all the benefits that all these three battlegrounds will bring to our economy and our society. And ultimately, you know, our military can use it too.”
What is worrisome to DOD officials is that the US does not yet have a good plan to compete with China’s 5G technology. The communist giant also controls about 70 percent of African 4G. Bajraktari points out that China has invested billions of dollars toward chip production, “going all in.” In the area of artificial intelligence China has proclaimed it wants to be the “global leader.”
Winning the competition, says Work, does not mean the US needs to control the production of critical technology, but it does need to be able to compete in the arena. He argues that Washington needs to have a dominant position in technological platforms and control global digital infrastructure “and we definitely want to be able to harness biotech for the safety and livelihood of our citizens and new energy.” Bajraktari says that “If the US cannot plan to excel in the three battlegrounds, advancements in biotech and computer power and next-generation inventions will happen in countries like China instead of democracies.” The stakes are greater than a simple military competition between two powerful states. The results of advances in AI, chips, and 5G will in large part determine who gets to shape the future of the geopolitical environment for the foreseeable future. The US and other western nation-states must compete to retain the democratic values and freedoms under attack by China or face that the West could end under the dominance of a communist dictatorship.
Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept.
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