The arrival of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and new technologies has been told as a game changer. But how does it unfold and who can use AI to win a contest in the century, the US, China, or other countries?
write Foreign Affairs (November 2023) James Manica and Nobel Prize winner Michael Spence argued that “by the start of the next decade, the transition to AI could be a major driver of global prosperity.” These benefits come from the rapid advances in AI in creating new content and applications in everyday life, as well as the rapid spread of innovation through democratization.
But for that to happen, “it's not just a new policy framework, but a new way of thinking about artificial intelligence. Ultimately, AI technology must be embraced as a tool that can be reinforced, rather than undermining human potential and ingenuity.” I think the AI revolution arrived faster than expected.
So far, the US and China appear to be pursuing the fullest of AI and other technologies in what appears to be a two-horse race.
In my paper, no country does not strengthen the adoption of AI for national productivity to avoid disparities in AI digital knowledge. Those who don't are alienated.
The century's contests lie between all countries, not just between the two biggest economic powers. This cut-throw trace will be mentally and financially colonized in various technological domains with big technology that seeks to dominate the “Pay-by-Subscription” game.
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This is because Global South has chosen to follow one algorithmic platform, locked into a “payment for upgrade” agreement or develop a platform that meets its own model or its local needs. AI can free you or enslav you.
According to Rockstar Tech, according to Mary Meeker's massive trends-AI 2025 report, “It's modest to say that the world is changing with unprecedented fees.” Today, “Artificial intelligence, acceleration of computing power and semi-boundary capital all drive large-scale change, organised, connected and accessible information being charged.”
“Based on user/usage/monetization metrics, Openai's ChatGpt is the biggest “one-night” success in history. “These “AI, computational infrastructure, and global connectivity fundamentally reshaping how work is done, how capital is deployed, and how leadership is defined in both companies and countries.”
The Chinese Deepseek moment, offering similar performance at a cheaper price, achieved two things. It is not to innovate Chinese leaders and especially to increase confidence in China's ability to persuade them to push technological advances strongly, rather than losing the technological war. As former US Secretary of Defense Michele Furunoy argued, AI has transformed its military and is “already at war.”
There are different opinions about how AI determines or shapes the US-China competition. As Andrew Bosworth, chief technology officer for Merkraft, said, “The current state of AI is our space race, and there are very few secrets, especially those discussing China.
The Stanford 2025 AI Index Report stated, “The US remains the leader in producing top AI models, but China is closing the performance gap.” Meeker sees this trend as unprecedented AI users and usage and capital expenditure investments. AI computing costs are high and rising, but performance is also rising, reducing per-user costs.
As users decide that AI usage is cheaper and more user-friendly, there is a threat to the monetization model illustrated by the epic 7 technology boom. Nvidia President Jensen Huang recently said “China is not behind.” “Are they in front of us? China is right behind us. We are very, very close.”
Slowly and surely, China is increasing its competition in AI, robotics and technology. Wendy Liu, Chief Asia of Jpmorgan, and Chinese equity strategist, said, “The arrival of Deepseek and Robotics appears to have awakened hibernation entrepreneurship among some businesses.
Citibank's recent analysis of the potential of agent AI suggests that a golden age for startups has begun as startups can build agent AL or personalized chatbot agents.
Agent AI turbocharged the “do for me” (Do IT (DIFM) economy, especially in financial services. Investors can use their own chatbots or AI agents to help them select financial products and execute transactions.
The democratization of AI and technological innovation is good news for the Global South. This is because diverse AI agent developments have plenty of scope to experiment with healthcare, education, business and supply chain processing bots and streamline government services to meet local needs. Using AI and robots can increase productivity in all areas.
In short, this explosive democratization of AI knowledge makes it a critical leadership challenge. It is up to the leaders of the business, community and national to decide how to use AI ethically and effectively.
My view is that governments must take the initiative to streamline government processes that hinder the lives of businesses and communities. Productivity only occurs when individuals and startups don't need to buy at high cost, or when they don't need to be blocked by inefficient paper trails with human intervention.
The government's job is to prepare communities for both the advantages and disadvantages of powerful tools and crack down on abuse that harms the common interests.
Only with AI and human wisdom can global races lead a path of peace and prosperity. The alternative is the destructive AI race to mutual conflict and nuclear, drone-driven war.
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The author is a renowned fellow at the University of Hong Kong, the Institute for Global Asia, and is the chairman of the George Twing Open and Advanced Study Institute at Wawasan Open University in Penang, Malaysia.
