Ask a room full of executives where the next big wave of artificial intelligence (AI) is coming from, and most would answer either the United States or China. It’s true that those two countries have strong AI advantages. In the U.S., AI companies benefit from venture capital and light regulation. In China, they benefit from government investment and AI-supported government surveillance, which generates both vast amounts of data and a demand for AI solutions. Both countries have big tech firms with lots of data. It’s reasonable to presume that both countries—and the companies that call them home—will continue to lead in important aspects of AI. But they don’t have a monopoly on the future of AI.
