The Book
For this assignment, I read, “AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order,” by Kai-Fu Lee. It was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2018. The ISBN is 9781328546396.
The Author’s Intended Purpose
Kai-Fu Lee’s intended purpose of writing this book is to talk about the history of Artificial Intelligence and how it has and will affect The United States, China and the rest of the world. His intended audience is those with a deep knowledge of artificial intelligence, those practically devoid of knowledge of artificial intelligence and those individuals in between.
The Theme/Thesis of this Book
The thesis of this book is that AI is the most influential invention since electricity; and, because China and the United States are the leaders of this technology, they will leave all others countries economically and socially behind.
How I See Myself Supporting This Theme\Thesis
After reading his book, I agree with the thesis. Lee has been in the AI industry for 30 years. He’s seen AI grow from infancy to what it is today. He has a belief that AI will mean fewer jobs since factories will be robots, within the next 20-30 years. Also, Lee believes the Chinese government’s decision to take a “heavy” rather than a “light” approach to the development of AI, after “China’s Sputnik,” means that China may overtake the US’s social dominance.
Evaluate the book for interest, accuracy, objectivity, importance or its usefulness for information management and the topic of our course.
This book was a great supplemental reading. Lee writes in a clear and sensitive way. He clearly described AI and its development, both overall and in China; and he cares about the future of humanity. He considers AI the best invention since electricity and its fantastic reading this from a leader of the new world. I can tell that he cares about humanity; and, his patriotism to China isn’t offensive in the least.
I find Lee’s narratives to be accurate and objective. Lee’s been working with AI technology since his undergraduate days. His descriptions regarding the ways China’s culture is technologically ahead of America’s was enlightening. From his descriptions of Chinese cashless cities due to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s) pay devices, to shared bike stations operated by cell phones, I can see what America will be in years to come. They say the man sitting on the shoulders of a giant can see farther than the giant. I gained lots from this giant.
AI Superpowers is useful and important for information management. I had an idea that internet in other countries was different depending upon the country; however, until I read about the amount of “mobile-first” users in China (those who use primarily cell phones), the fact that China’s e-commerce purchases are roughly double the U.S. totals, and other differences, my eyes were opened to a whole new world.
As far as how this book relates to our course, I find the knowledge of how other countries manage their information to be helpful. With this knowledge I can compare and contrast the United States and China to other countries.
Provide the general implications of the book and discuss how this book relates to any or some of the concepts of information theory as discussed in our textbook, "Surveillance, Transparency and Democracy: Public Administration in the Information Age" (2015).
Artificial Intelligence wasn’t as complicated and sophisticated as it currently is before the development of Deep Learning in the early 2000s. Creating Deep Learning machines is analogous to creating the complicated neural networks in our brains. Computer scientists have been working on it since it’s invention. Deep Learning allowed us to program our artificial intelligence at deeper levels. Because of deep learning, artificial intelligence, as it is today, is more useful.
When the Chinese government analyzed the increase in potential of AI, due to Deep Learning, in the early 2000s, their government took an intensive approach to spur it’s citizens into action regarding being the leader of AI technology and entrepreneurialism. China gives out local government subsidies for AI companies and entrepreneurs.
China has already surpassed the United States as the number one producer of data; and, Lee thinks China and the United States will, because of their leadership in AI, will leave all other countries economically behind. Lee predicts the new AI world order will be particularly jolting to Americans since they have grown accustomed to a near-total dominance of the technological sphere.
Lee goes on to make the prediction that since China will benefit most from this new technology, slowly, China may surpass the United States. He states that, “as the economic balance of power tilts in China’s favor, so too will political influence and ‘soft power,’ the country’s cultural and ideological footprint around the globe,” (Lee, p.18). Kai-Fu Lee wants us to know that AI is the most influential invention since electricity and will thusly have a more powerful effect.
Lee states that AI will result in the loss of 30%-50% of jobs; and, humans will have to reevaluate what makes us human since it will no longer be “putting in a hard day’s work.” Lee states that the hard work, the creation of AI, is over. Lee says that the only thing left to do is make more algorithms.
Lee concludes that the inequalities that exist between the economies of China and The U.S. vs. the rest of the world will grow because other countries aren’t gathering as much data; and since they won’t have as much data to put into their algorithms, they’ll end up buying mostly Chinese and American AI hardware resulting in them lagging behind in important social and technological areas.
The more examples (data) you give your AI, better your AI since you can give it more examples to imitate. In our text, “Surveillance, Transparency and Democracy: Public Administration in the Information Age,” we learn about, Google changing its privacy policy, in 2012,” allowing the company to collect and share data on a user as he or she uses the company’s search engine, e-mail, social networking platform, and other products,” (Haque, p. 12). The concepts of data collection are referred to over and over again in AI Superpowers. Lee discusses China’s privacy policies being different from the policies in the United States.
Lee says that China’s internet users differ through the fact that China’s government collects more personal data than the United States. China has different policies. Lee states and restates that China is the number one producer of data and that the more data you can put into your AI technology, the more powerful that technology will be. He states that in the near future, an unprecedented amount of wealth will be in the hands of a few Chinese and American companies; and, he expects China to benefit economically at least twice as much.
AI Superpowers also mentions robots that can do everything a human can do. He calls this “general” AI. In, “Surveillance, Transparency, and Democracy,” or class text, we learn that “Logan McCarthy, who pioneered the concept of AI in 1955, asserts that AI’s goal is to “develop machines that behave as if they were intelligent,” (Haque, p. 98). Lee, in “AI Superpowers,” mentions four waves of AI, each represented by an increased level of complexity of the AI. His final wave includes self-driving cars, warehouse robots, strawberry pickers and other machines with the power of sight, the sense of touch, and the ability to optimize from data. Although he states it may never happen, he believes in “general” AI being invented one day.
Lee gives the topic of AI a great overview, supplying as only an expert can do, a narrative that is a look into the past, present, and future through the eyes of the scientist he is.
References
Haque, A. (2015). Surveillance, Transparency, and Democracy: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE INFORMATION AGE. Tuscaloosa, Al: THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS.
Lee. K. (2018). AI SUPERPOWERS: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order. New York, NY: Houghton M
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