The thing about artificial intelligence is that the second letter matters a lot more than the first. Human beings are very good at the artificial part – from sweeteners to limbs, art to implants – we’ve been coming up with artificial things for a very long time. As a species, we lag in the “intelligence” part. When you combine the two, the possibilities are endless. Thanks to the seeming human shortage of the intelligence part, so are the potholes. That’s why what we do in these fields requires a lot more “I.”
I’m a cynic, so I will pretty much always come down on the doubtful side of things. It can be a drag, but if people didn’t ask skeptical questions, then they’d be completely surprised and unprepared when issues and obstacles arise. So, you’re welcome.
In the field of AI, there are a lot of questions that need to be asked and answered because the stakes are so incredibly high.
Just how much of the economy in the future depends on artificial intelligence remains to be seen – it may or may not be everything, but it will certainly be more than nothing. And while the economic pie will likely be plenty big for everyone to have a piece, the country that leads the way will not only get the benefits of the lion’s share of that pie, but they will also reap the rewards that go with manufacturing and selling the ingredients of that pie as well.
This is where the United States needs to be, and it is where President Donald Trump is positioning us.
A rising tide lifts all boats, as the saying goes, but it’s always best for the captain of the largest ship on the sea. The United States is Icon of the Seas (it’s the largest cruise ship in the world; I didn’t want to use “Titanic” for obvious reasons) compared to the SS Minnow. The trick is keeping it that way.
A couple of weeks ago, the President finalized a deal allowing Nvidia to sell one of the world’s most advanced computer chips to China. This has some people in the US upset, preferring to deny China any US technology in their pursuit of AI dominance. But these aren’t Nvidia’s best chips; they’re the second best, which is still light years ahead of anything China can produce itself.
You may ask yourself, “Why sell anything to China?” when they can’t produce it themselves. Lots of reasons, actually. They would just eventually steal it, for one, so we might as well get some money out of the deal. But there’s also the reality that by selling China some of our tech, we delay or even prevent them from developing their own. This makes it more difficult, if not impossible.
Developing these chips is wildly expensive, as is simply manufacturing them. By disincentivizing China’s pursuit of its own chips, we obtain a modicum of control in an otherwise free-for-all situation.
With so much on the line, and not just money (though there is a lot of that, too), it’s not surprising there are very different opinions on the subject. Former Deputy National Security Advisor in the first Trump administration, Matt Pottinger, said in written House testimony that it was a “myth you’ll hear around Washington is that if we sell China enough advanced AI chips, Beijing will become ‘addicted’ to them and give up their efforts to indigenize chip production.”
Pottinger’s written statement continued, “‘Even if we introduce Nvidia chips, our determination to pursue independent innovation will remain unwavering,’ said Wei Shaojun, vice chairman of the China Semiconductor Industry Association, in an 8 January interview with Chinese state media. ‘The purpose of importing [technology] is to catch up better, and catching up will eventually lead to running alongside or even taking the lead.’”
China is famous for bragging, never admitting weakness or failure. Why wouldn’t this be seen the same way? Of course, they’ll continue trying; nothing is going to stop that, but if they could’ve done anything close to one of our less powerful chips, they wouldn’t need them. How that led to them lapping is an argument I can’t believe an adult, or even just someone with faith in American innovation, made in public.
We are in the lead on AI and it is very important that we stay there. We do that not only by constantly innovating, but also by influencing the rest of the world through those innovations. There are people who swear Betamax was superior to VHS in the videotape wars of the early 1980s, but VHS won early on by working with creators and VCR makers to be the affordable, easy-to-use platform.
Our chips need to be the platform on which AI operates. That gets done by being the best and by being a platform from which everyone works. By allowing good chips to be sold to China, while protecting our best tech, we are controlling the innovation and the grounds on which future innovation will happen. It’s the “intelligent” way to AI.
Derek Hunter is the host of the Derek Hunter Show on WMAL in Washington, DC, and has a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Townhall’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member