A pro-tech lobbying group has issued a new report warning of the growing threat posed by China’s artificial intelligence technology and open-source strategy, which may jeopardize the United States’ national and economic security.
According to the research issued by the American Edge Project, “China is rapidly advancing its own open-source ecosystem as an alternative to American technology and using it as a Trojan horse to implant its CCP values into global infrastructure.”
“Their progress is both significant and concerning: Chinese-developed open-source AI tools are already outperforming Western models on key benchmarks while operating at significantly lower costs, hastening global adoption.” China is exporting its technology internationally through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which includes more than 155 nations across four continents, and its Digital Silk Road (DSR), fostering growing global dependence, weakening democratic values, and jeopardizing US leadership and global security.”
The paper describes how Chinese AI models restrict historical events that may cast China in a negative light, deny or downplay human rights violations, and filter criticism of Chinese political leaders.
“China is executing an ambitious $1.4 trillion plan to dominate global technology by 2030, with open-source systems as the cornerstone of its AI strategy,” according to the article. “While many Western companies focus on paid, proprietary AI models, China is aggressively promoting free and low-cost alternatives to drive rapid global adoption.”
The study goes on to say that by making much of its AI technology freely available, Beijing hopes to ensure that its systems and standards become embedded in the world’s financial, manufacturing, and communications backbone. China is reshaping the global technology environment through concerted activity by the government and industry, while also programming CCP values and control mechanisms into crucial systems around the world.
According to the research, China is “racing” to deploy AI, while the United States is focused on prioritizing AI regulation.
“While American and European governments focus on regulating AI, China is aggressively pushing its AI systems into global markets,” according to the report. “This playbook mirrors China’s successful strategy with 5G technology, where Huawei gained dominant market share through aggressive pricing and rapid deployment before Western nations could respond effectively.” In AI, one Chinese company, Alibaba Cloud, has released over 100 open-source models in 29 languages, flooding global markets while Western companies face increasingly onerous regulatory restrictions.”
The report describes the differences between China’s and the United States’ AI model responses and makes policy recommendations to “preserve U.S. AI leadership,” such as seizing the “historic opportunity to secure lasting American AI leadership” and avoiding “unilateral restrictions on exporting and access to U.S. AI systems.”
“If America loses the global race to dominate both open-source and closed-source AI technology, authoritarian Chinese systems will write the future, and Washington policymakers can’t let that happen,” Doug Kelly, CEO of the American Edge Project, told AWN Digital.
The paper states that “the implications of Chinese leadership in global AI development are profound.”
“A world of unchecked, Beijing-built AI ecosystems would be a major blow to the U.S. and humanity as a whole,” the Center for New American Security states in the paper. “If Chinese AI goes global, so too will brazen non-compliance with international agreements on the technology.”