New to the announcement of President Trump's AI Action Plan, China has issued a global action plan on artificial intelligence and called for international cooperation on technology development and regulations. China's plan was announced at the annual National Organization's World Artificial Intelligence Conference and focuses on plans to partner with the Global South to promote AI standards around the world.
There is no denying that AI will have a major impact on our economy. However, there is always a possibility that AI could become another bubble. I have experienced the internet expansion in the 90s, but AI is at a much larger, more disruptive, and more impactful pace. AI can affect every person and company in the world. To achieve this and ensure that Western values drive the adoption of AI, there are three major things to fix before AI becomes the “new internet” that will change all the interactions we have.
Access to critical AI infrastructure is hampered by the following underlying issues: crash costs, extreme concentrations, and insufficient capacity. The US AI Action Plan states that “companies looking to use large-scale calculations often sign long-term contracts with hyperschools, beyond the budget ranges of most academics and many startups.” Additionally, it creates a fierce competition by creating data transfer fees, artificial barriers that are not related to the costs that companies face when moving their own data from cloud systems, and the technical benefits.
It was the general TCP/IP standard that opened the Internet to everything. This allows you to talk to other computers. This ability to connect to the outside of AOL's (at that time) walled gardens flourished in creativity, rapidly improving capabilities, and opening up new business uses.
If AI wants to grow and succeed like the Internet, it needs to have an open exchange with a global standard that is as easy to access as sending packets from one computer to the next. Beijing has already published several action plans to provide direct subsidies to AI companies and make the vast dataset available to national champions through public-private partnerships, providing a general approach that Chinese companies should follow. The Chinese government has announced a national exchange to perform catalogues and market calculations. Too long, America's fragmented approach and lack of national strategy risks permanently transferring current AI leadership. By setting standards that help you stay ahead of AI, you can create the type of market-driven solution that will quickly bring the power of American AI to the global population.
40s, 60s, 90s, today
Before the internet, you can turn your back on moving to PC for mainframe age and insights. In the 1940s, computing power was so expensive that only the government could afford it, living in room-sized machines in the hangar and partnering with the university for access. Today, my pocket-sized phones are more powerful than the early supercomputers. What has changed? IBM led the commoditization of computer hardware while building profitable businesses. Microsoft and Linux have created operating system standards. These changes have been unfolding for decades, but today's technology moves so fast, demanding faster responses to stay competitive.
Today, AI sits where computing went in the 1960s. We need a unique IBM PC revolution for artificial intelligence with open standards and exchange. Therefore, you can move as quickly as possible to win the AI's Earth War.
This shift does not occur solely through government mandate, and should not be. We need the market power to be guided by open standards that make AI resources truly accessible and interoperable. If companies can easily compare computing options and move workloads between providers, competition can drive market-efficient pricing and improve services. Innovation accelerates when developers have access to standardized AI infrastructure without months of advance planning.
This approach will help American strategic interests. If our allies and enemies can easily adopt American development AI standards and infrastructure, we will strengthen our entire democratic technological ecosystem. President Trump's move to enable China to purchase NVIDIA H20 processors is because it helps to encourage Chinese developers to build American technology. If our enemy relies on the American technology stack, we will gain impacts well beyond what export control can achieve while promoting democratic values.
The government is here responsible for ensuring the market is competitive. Strategic computing reserves, like strategic oil reserves, could provide emergency capacity during a crisis. Procurement policies can prioritize central providers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses over government procurement. Standard development can prevent the kinds of fragmentation that have historically hindered American technology leadership.
This is time for quick action.
President Trump has committed to keeping America as the “hottest country” and his AI action plan sets us up for success. China has plans they have been working on for years. To provide the promise of AI in the Western world, we need to create not only government commitments to leadership, but also market conditions where American innovation can flourish.
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