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Politico
36 minutes ago
- Politico
Some questions about that global AI race
Just how far is the U.S. ahead of China in the AI race? The conventional wisdom is that the U.S. has an edge on China in artificial intelligence — and President Donald Trump's ambitious new AI policy is built around keeping it. 'America is the country that started the AI race,' Trump said during a speech in July. 'And as president, I'm here today to declare that America is going to win it.' But some big questions are swirling around that whole argument — like, how far ahead the U.S. really is, and what it means to have a lead at all. 'When people make claims like that, they're making political statements,' said Chris Miller, a Tufts University economic historian who wrote the book 'Chip War.' What it means to have an 'edge' is ill-defined: it could be technological, economic or geopolitical. 'I don't know how to answer that,' said Suresh Venkatasubramanian, who served in the Biden White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, when DFD asked if the U.S. is ahead. 'There's so many dimensions.' 'American [AI] models are about 3 [to] 6 months ahead of Chinese models,' White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks told DFD in a statement — though he added that when it comes to semiconductors, the U.S.' lead 'grows to years.' There's also the proposition that China is ahead in some ways — in part because the U.S.' chip export controls arguably led DeepSeek, a Hangzhou-based startup, to make breakthroughs in developing more efficient AI algorithms. Depending on which dimension you care about, the race could steer policy in very different directions. In general, it's hard to argue that America isn't currently leading the AI race. The San Francisco Bay Area is unquestionably the global AI talent and business capital. The largest AI companies are American, and so are their biggest customers. OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude are the most popular generative AI systems among users worldwide. Under the hood, American AI chips are the most advanced in the world (though they're largely manufactured in Taiwan). China is hungry for America's semiconductors, undertaking extensive smuggling operations to get around U.S. restrictions. Even chips purposefully designed to be less advanced than their cutting-edge models are a hot commodity — the president lifted bans on their sales to China in trade negotiations. America also has better computing infrastructure, with around ten times more data centers than China. However, China has proved in recent months that it's within striking distance of the U.S.' AI models. While Silicon Valley's chatbots still top performance charts, China's are running ahead on some metrics. DeepSeek set off shockwaves in January when it unveiled its V3 model that uses a tenth of the computing power required for those in America. In July, the Beijing-based company Moonshot AI released its Kimi K2 model, which could outperform ChatGPT and Claude in coding at a fraction of the cost. Alibaba, also based in Hangzhou, debuted a model just a couple of weeks ago that bested American LLMs in logical and mathematical problem solving. China is making strides in computing power as well. Huawei came out with a showstopping processing system known as CloudMatrix 384 in late July, which trumps Nvidia's competing product in memory capacity and bandwidth. (AJ Kourabi of the research firm SemiAnalysis offered a caution on its importance in the AI race, telling DFD it's 'still extremely difficult to train on.') Pinpointing exactly where the U.S.-China race is getting close isn't just a high-tech debate exercise. It's driving policy. Some of the concerns are clearly baked into Trump's AI Action Plan. China's easy access to electricity is what enables systems like CloudMatrix 384 to run — it's packed with a ton of less efficient chips, but you can brute force performance with more energy. You can draw a straight line from that concern to the plan's warning that China has 'rapidly built out their grid,' and its recommendations to further loosen environmental regulations so that the U.S. can keep up. The plan also suggests taking the brakes off the AI industry by overriding state laws (a controversial idea that showed up in the Big Beautiful Bill this summer). And during a speech on the plan, Trump blamed copyright laws for slowing down training of AI models. Though the plan itself doesn't address copyright, AI companies have long complained the rules stifle their competitiveness. The debate over chip exports is also a point of tension — one where national security hawks are in direct conflict with the go-go business types, though both have an argument that they're helping the American cause. Tighter restrictions on high-end chips mean that China lacks access to the best technology, and is hamstrung at the most advanced end of AI development — but pro-business officials and influential CEOs argue that disseminating chips more broadly gets the world hooked on the U.S.' AI tech stack. In some ways, however, this 'AI race' framework isn't all that helpful for setting priorities, and could ultimately be self-defeating. We don't really know what we're sprinting towards. 'This is an infinite race,' Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in April. Also, beating China could be a pyrrhic victory. Trump's AI plan writ large looks a lot like a centrally planned industrial policy: companies buy closeness to Trump, and get rewarded for it. The AI plan fuses state and industry in a way that leaves out a lot of the AI debate that Americans arguably would prefer to have. Data centers are causing utility bills to rise and drying up well water for the people living around them, and AI has been increasing unemployment rates. Many critics of the AI rush think the U.S. may be boosting the industry by shutting off dialogue about those things — winning the race, but becoming less American in the process. A senator questions Intel on ties to China Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is inquiring into reports about Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan's involvement with China-backed semiconductor firms and a criminal case regarding one of his former companies, POLITICO's Anthony Adragna reports. Cotton sent a letter on Tuesday to the chair of Intel's board of directors, Frank Yeary, about the 'security and integrity of Intel's operations.' Cotton asked whether the company knew about subpoenas issued to Tan's previous company, Cadence Design Systems, before it hired him. The company pleaded guilty last week on charges that it illegally exported chip design tools to a university linked to the Chinese military, and agreed to pay more than $140 million in penalties. 'Intel and Mr. Tan are deeply committed to the national security of the United States and the integrity of our role in the U.S. defense ecosystem,' an Intel spokesperson said in a statement. Intel was awarded up to $7.86 billion in federal grants under the 2022 CHIPS Act, in addition to another $3 billion for the secure enclave program. California strikes down an election deepfakes ban A federal judge in California struck down one of the country's strictest laws on AI-generated deepfakes in a win for Elon Musk's X, POLITICO's Chase DiFeliciantonio reports. Judge John Mendez on Tuesday overruled a law prohibiting online platforms from hosting deceptive election-related deepfakes during the runup to a vote. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law last year after chiding Musk for sharing a manipulated video of then-Vice President Kamala Harris on X. The creator of the video, Christopher Kohls, brought the legal challenge on First Amendment grounds. X later joined the case. Mendez did not rule on the First Amendment arguments raised in the case, but rather made the decision based on Section 230 of the Communications Act, which shields platforms from liability for content posted by third parties. Mendez also signaled that he intends to overturn another law requiring labels on digitally altered campaign materials. post of the day THE FUTURE IN 5 LINKS Stay in touch with the whole team: Aaron Mak (amak@ Mohar Chatterjee (mchatterjee@ Steve Heuser (sheuser@ Nate Robson (nrobson@ and Daniella Cheslow (dcheslow@
The Hill
42 minutes ago
- The Hill
Senate Republican questions new Intel CEO's ties to China
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Tuesday pressed the chair of Intel's board about its CEO's ties to China, voicing concerns about the integrity of the semiconductor firm and U.S. national security. In a letter to Intel board chair Frank Yeary, Cotton pointed to recent reporting on Lip-Bu Tan's investments in hundreds of Chinese tech firms, at least eight of which have ties to the Chinese military, according to Reuters. Tan was tapped to lead Intel in March, after former CEO Pat Gelsinger stepped down last December following a 'challenging year' for the company. Before joining Intel, Tan was CEO of Cadence Design Systems — another point of concern raised by Cotton. The software company produces electronic design automation (EDA) technology, which is used to design chips. It agreed to plead guilty and pay $140 million last month for violating export controls by selling the technology to a Chinese military university. 'Intel is required to be a responsible steward of American taxpayer dollars and to comply with applicable security regulations,' Cotton wrote, noting Intel's nearly $8 billion grant under the CHIPS and Science Act. 'Mr. Tan's associations raise questions about Intel's ability to fulfill these obligations,' he added. Cotton asked Yeary what measures Intel has taken to address concerns about Cadence's activities, which occurred during Tan's tenure, and whether it has required him to divest from China-linked semiconductor firms or other 'concerning entities.' The Arkansas Republican also questioned whether Tan has disclosed his China investments and ties to the U.S. government given Intel's involvement in a Pentagon program to build chips for defense and intelligence needs.
Business Insider
43 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Trump's Truth Social is getting its own AI search engine — powered by Perplexity
Truth Social has entered its AI era. Trump Media announced on Wednesday that it began beta testing a new AI-powered search engine on its Truth Social platform. The new feature — called Truth Search AI — is made possible by a partnership with Perplexity. "Powered by Perplexity, a software and AI company dedicated to providing direct, contextually accurate answers with transparent citations, Truth Search AI is intended to enhance the Truth Social platform and exponentially increase the amount of information available to its users," Trump Media said in a press release. A Perplexity spokesperson told Business Insider that Truth Social uses the Perplexity Sonar API. They declined to discuss the details or financial terms of the partnership. Truth Social is the latest social media platform to integrate AI. Elon Musk's xAI debuted an AI chatbot, Grok, to X users in 2023. Mark Zuckerberg's Meta introduced its AI chatbot — Meta AI — across its social media and messaging platforms in 2024. Reddit has also introduced an AI-powered search tool last year. AI emerged as a key focus for President Donald Trump during his first administration, but has grown in importance in his second term. In January, Trump issued an executive order to "remove barriers to American leadership in artificial intelligence." Last month, the White House unveiled its action plan to win the global AI race. Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media, said the company will review user feedback on Truth Social to determine next steps. "We plan to robustly refine and expand our search function based on user feedback as we implement a wide range of additional enhancements to the platform," Nunes, a former California congressman, said in the press release.
