CEO of Scale AI Warns of US Falling Behind China in AI Technology
According to the CEO of Scale AI, a company that assists businesses such as ChatGPT’s designer in enhancing their system’s data, the United States is in danger of falling behind China in terms of the caliber of data utilized as “ammunition” for advanced tools.
The United States is at a “critical moment” in its race for artificial intelligence supremacy against China, Scalen AI chief executive Alexandr Wang said at a summit for government officials, which he founded in 2016 after leaving MIT.
“We are sacrificing America to be left behind,” Wang said, adding that China is investing more in AI, both in absolute terms and relative to its larger defense budget. In his presentation, Wang said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army will invest at least $1.6 billion in technology in 2020, compared to about $1.3 billion for the US Department of Defense.
Wang described AI as an “inevitable” technology that must be integrated into military operations to remain competitive with global adversaries. He compared AI to nuclear weapons as a technology that will reshape global diplomacy and power.
“I believe AI will determine the next era of warfare and deterrence,” Wang said. “The future of our world is at stake.”
Speaking at the same event, Sen. Mike Rounds, Republican of South Dakota, agreed that the U.S. currently has an edge in data collection and tagging, but warned that TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., could give the Chinese Communist Party access to more information. English samples for training artificial intelligence systems.
Wang said the United States must take advantage of the vast amounts of data collected by a vast network of military hardware — sensors, cameras, satellites — that collect information that can be harnessed to exercise artificial intelligence. Ensuring the quality of these feeds “turns this hardware advantage into a data advantage,” Wang said.
Scale AI helps customers from ChatGPT’s OpenAI Inc. and chipmaker Nvidia Corp. to Toyota Motor Corp. and the U.S. government help improve the quality of data to build better AI systems, according to the company’s website.
