Ongoing competition between China and the United States for next-generation technologies will define the future of artificial intelligence (AI), according to one U.S. congressman.
AI, in turn, will determine the outcome of the New Cold War between the two powers, said Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.).
The only way to ensure U.S. victory in the AI race, and thus the New Cold War, he believes, is to sever ties between the two nations’ tech sectors.
“I just don’t see a path forward without decoupling,” Waltz said during a June 5 talk with the Atlantic Council, a Washington, D.C.- based think tank.
“We’re in a global arms race with an adversary that, unlike any in American history, has the economic and military capability to truly supplant and replace us, which, again, is their stated goal.”
Waltz said that U.S. dependencies on China for manufacturing and critical supply chains were “fantastically dangerous.” Given the growing divide between authoritarian and democratic technospheres, he said, the United States would need to combine effective decoupling with industry-supportive policies. It would also need a more aggressive entrepreneurial ecosystem to out-innovate the communist regime.
Read more: AI Will Determine Outcome of US-China Cold War, Waltz Says
