China will be at forefront of AI, Alphabet CEO Pichai says
- The scale of AI work in China ‘is just astounding to see’, Pichai said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco
- Pichai compared the need for global collaboration on AI safety to the importance of working together on climate change
Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai said he expects China to be “at the forefront” of artificial intelligence (AI), and said it is important for the US to collaborate with the Asian nation on both regulation and innovation.
The scale of AI work in China “is just astounding to see”, Pichai said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in San Francisco, in an onstage interview by Bloomberg’s Emily Chang. “In some ways, China is going to be at the forefront of AI and that’s a given.”
That is going to require a strong working relationship, Pichai added.
“No way you make progress over the long term without China and the US deeply talking to each other on something like AI,” he said, drawing on his experience prioritising the technology at Google. “It has got to be an integral part of the process.”
Executives from Microsoft Corp, Citigroup, Tesla and other large multinational companies are meeting this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Asian leaders, as well as US President Joe Biden.
