Opinion: Japan and South Korea will help the United States compete with Chinese technology

China is catching up with the United States in artificial intelligence and quantum computing faster than previously expected. This was stated by Eric Schmidt, chairman of the U.S. National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence and former Google chief executive, as Nikkei Asia reports.

In his view, to win the tech race with China, the United States must maintain leadership in strategic areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy, quantum computing and synthetic biology.

“We need closer ties with researchers, universities and governments of Japan, Korea and European authorities,” he said.

Schmidt proposed establishing a coordination group in Washington to stay in touch with the Japanese side and a partners group in Tokyo, along with similar agreements with other allies.

He stressed that the relationship between Washington and Beijing should not be purely competitive.

“There is a belief that China is our enemy; we should stop trading with and working with them,” Schmidt said.

However, in his words, this is a mistake. Schmidt characterised the relationship between the countries as \”competitive partnership,\” citing health and climate change as areas for potential cooperation.

“It is a rivalry, but we actually engage with them on many issues,” he said.

In July, the U.S. Department of Commerce imposed sanctions on Chinese AI companies for violations of Uyghur rights.

In March, China unveiled a five-year plan to accelerate the development of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Earlier, the U.S. National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence published a report with recommendations for business and government on preserving the country’s technological dominance, including against China. In the document the PRC was named the main challenge to U.S. technological supremacy, threatening economic and military power for the first time since the end of World War II.

In 2020, China also surged to the lead in the number of AI-related scientific publications.

Subscribe to ForkLog News on Telegram: ForkLog AI — all the news from the world of AI!