The AI Book

CHAPTER 7AI: A Cross Country Analysis of China versus the West

By Bonnie Buchanan¹

¹Head of Department of Finance and Accounting and Professor of Finance, Surrey Business School, University of Surrey,

Artificial intelligence is impacting industries ranging from IT to financial services, healthcare, education, surveillance and regulation. Approximately 5154 AI startups have been established globally during the past five years.¹ A 2019 PwC report² estimates that AI could add as much as $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, and claims the greatest gains will be experienced in China and North America. Between 2012 and 2016 the US invested $18.2 billion into AI compared with $2.6 billion in China and $850 million in the UK.³

There are two main explanations which account for AI’s rapid growth. Firstly, exponential advances in computing power have led to declining processing and data storage costs. Secondly, data availability has increased on a massive scale. AI is now a national priority, but approaches vary. China, the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) have adopted a government-led approach to AI. The United States’ (US) AI strategy has been dominated (and self-regulated) by big tech companies like Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon. Singapore’s AI structure emphasizes a more “human-centric” approach that includes explainability, transparency and fairness to establish public trust in AI. The Chinese strategy is also based on a very different financial market model. ...