A 26-year-old self-made billionaire whose company is helping the Pentagon adopt artificial intelligence technology warned this week the Chinese government is spending three times as much as the U.S. government is to become the world’s undisputed AI leader.
“The country that is able to most rapidly and effectively integrate new technology into warfighting wins. If we don’t win on AI, we risk ceding global influence, technology leadership and democracy to strategic adversaries like China,” Alexandr Wang, CEO of Scale AI, told members of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
“The Chinese Communist Party deeply understands the potential for AI to disrupt warfare and is investing to heavily capitalize on the opportunity,” he said.
PENTAGON’S AI PLAN MUST INCLUDE OFFENSE AND DEFENSE UNDER HOUSE-PASSED BILL: ‘DOD HAS TO CATCH UP’
CEO of Scale AI Alexandr Wang testifies during a House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies and Innovation hearing about artificial intelligence on Capitol Hill July 18, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Wang, raised by two parents who worked as nuclear physicists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, started his company in 2016 after dropping out of MIT when he was 19. Scale AI was recently valued at more than $7 billion, and Wang told lawmakers that he saw the scale of China’s ambition during an investor trip there four years ago.
“China was making rapid progress developing AI technologies like facial recognition and computer vision and using these for domestic surveillance and repression,” he testified. “China is investing the full power of its industrial base for AI.”
“This year, they’re on track to spend roughly three times the U.S. government on AI,” he added. “The PLA is also heavily investing in AI-enabled autonomous drone swarms, adaptive radar systems, autonomous vehicles, and China has launched over 79 large language models since 2020.”
“AI is China’s Apollo Project,” he concluded.
AMAZON TECH GURU: EATING LESS BEEF, MORE FISH GOOD FOR THE PLANET, AND AI HELPS US GET THERE
CEO of Scale AI Alexandr Wang, American Enterprise Institute fellow Klon Kitchen and Global A.I. ethicist at DataRobot Dr. Haniyeh Mahmoudian testify during a House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Information Technologies and Innovation hearing about artificial intelligence on Capitol Hill July 18, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
