The marked and sustained growth of the Chinese economy in recent decades was neither random nor accidental, nor was it solely the responsibility of its central government. Thousands of entrepreneurs guided by market logic developed innovative applications in overcrowded cities with a lot of poverty around and a central government willing to invest and sponsor this cultural change. All of this helped create the necessary conditions for that perfect cocktail that triggered a golden era for the Asian giant, as Dr. Kai-Fu Lee noted in his book on AI.
It wasn’t enough to have entrepreneurs with a lot of available information. Programmers, engineers, and other trained professionals in each field were needed, and that wouldn’t have been possible without the support of a government that embraced investment in education and transformative technology like never before. At this point, it is clear that building an economy driven by AI advancement is not unique to private companies, as they need certain political and legal conditions to accelerate and consolidate their businesses, in addition to a skilled workforce.
Therein lies the importance of looking beyond the West. We have just uncovered China’s modus operandi in the face of technological advancement. They not only expect this transformation to happen, but as they know it will happen, they help make it happen, accelerating the process and taking significant risks along the way.
While Western political systems are plagued by battles among members of their Congresses or Parliaments, where no one would survive the public humiliation of wasting funds on technological advances with negative results, China’s techno-utilitarian vision sponsors these decisions.
I am not qualified to say that one system is better than the other. We cannot argue against the United States and its history of technological advances along with the promotion of individual freedoms, nor can we go against China, its scientific contributions, its economic growth, and the fact that despite having the largest army in the world, it has not perpetrated wars and attacks on other countries as openly as the giant to the north of the American continent. In an era where AI reigns, perhaps the Chinese perspective can accelerate developments and plant the seeds for faster subsequent growth.
At this point, it is clear that we come from different cultures, where perceptions regarding certain topics or ways of doing things are highly antagonistic. When such a significant economic and technological disruption as that unleashed by AI advancement occurs, questions stop having a purely market-driven imprint, and other political and philosophical questions begin to be added to the table. Today, many of us are used to trading privacy for convenience in other aspects, but one’s stance does not have to be that of society as a whole. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, put it very well:
If something is free, you are the product
In other words, only the pig knows the value of the ham. Each country will choose how to handle the privacy of individuals and the information each one generates. Perhaps, just as the Nagoya Protocol, which has been ratified by more than 125 countries plus the European Union, governs access to genetic resources and the fair distribution of the benefits derived from their use, setting clear rules for the export of genetic samples from one country to another, we will see similar discussions in the future regarding the data people create and exchange on the internet. We in the West may not like the idea of Big Brother or big companies knowing a lot about us, but in China, people already accept paying by scanning their eyes and know that all their actions are watched by their government.
Each technological advantage will increase the risks of encountering these and other questions that can even become philosophical. How will we compensate and balance the lives of millions of people currently dedicated to the transportation industry against the billions of dollars and hours of human labor that will be evaporated by the use of autonomous vehicles? How will we protect the data collected from users when digital illiteracy is so high? Knowing how to use a social network app on your mobile device says nothing about your understanding of what happens behind that app and what they do with your information. Companies make sure to tell you and force you to consent to their terms and policies before letting you proceed with using their tools, yet we rarely stop to really read what they say. This information has always been right in front of our noses. Think about it this way: to maneuver a vehicle, you are asked to validate your knowledge, to operate on the stock exchange, you are asked to validate your knowledge, to work as a makeup artist in 37 states in the United States, you are asked to validate your knowledge and have a license[152]. However, to operate one of humanity’s most important technologies, no one asks you anything, even though the moment we connect to the internet, we are exposed to thousands of threats, offensive content, and algorithms capable of generating chemical reactions in our brains just like various substances, from caffeine to drugs.
[152] Makeup Artist – Institute for Justice. (2022). Institute for Justice. Retrieved on February 10, 2023, from https://ij.org/report/license-to-work-3/ltw-occupation-profile/makeup-artist.