Over the past decade, the United States has become the overwhelming global leader in the creation of and private investment in AI startups, according to S&P Global.
In a report released July 9, S&P said a total of 5,509 AI companies will be founded in the U.S. between 2013 and 2023. That's more than all other countries combined and nearly four times as many as second-place China, which founded 1,446 companies in the same period. Rounding out the top five are the U.K. with 727 companies, Israel with 442 and Canada with 397.
AI startup activity is also reflected in private investment, with a cumulative $335.2 billion invested in the U.S. over the decade, according to S&P Global.
This is more than three times China's private sector investment of $103.7 billion and far more than the UK's $22.3 billion, Israel's $12.8 billion and Canada's $10.6 billion.
But S&P warned that the government plays a large role in AI investment, noting that much of China's AI spending comes from the public sector and is less transparent.
Indeed, China has a three-year AI development action plan that includes programs to develop a domestic AI skilled workforce and attract foreign workers to AI projects, the report added.
Globally, S&P projects that private investment in AI startups will reach $800 billion to $900 billion by 2027, representing a compound annual growth rate of at least 70% to 74%.
The data on the booming US private AI industry comes at a time when the Chinese government is censoring AI developers.
According to the source, Financial Times Last week it was reported that China's top internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), was testing the company's large-scale language models to ensure they “embodied core socialist values.”
CAC “had a special team that came to our office, sat in a conference room and conducted the audit,” said an employee at a Hangzhou-based AI company. FT“I didn't pass the first time. I had to consult with my peers because I wasn't sure why. It took a bit of guesswork and tweaking. I passed the second time, but the whole process took several months.”
Ensuring “core socialist values” also means that companies must monitor sensitive questions or keywords that could lead to “inciting subversion of state power” or “undermining national unity.” FT Added.
As a result, queries about the Tiananmen Square incident and most questions about President Xi Jinping were rejected by China's chatbot.
of Financial Times Previously, CAC said that a research centre under its umbrella was developing a large-scale language model trained in “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”.
