As the United States and China vie for control over the future of artificial intelligence, Beijing has embarked on an all-out drive to transform the technology from a remote concept to a newfangled reality, with applications on factory floors and in hospitals and government offices. China does not have access to the most advanced chips required to power cutting-edge models due to restrictions from Washington and is still largely playing catch-up with Silicon Valley giants like OpenAI. But experts say Beijing is pursuing an alternative playbook in an attempt to bridge the gap: aggressively pushing for the adoption of AI across the government and private sector. “In China, there’s definitely stronger government support for applications and a clear mandate from the central government to diffuse the technology through society,” said Scott Singer, an expert on China’s AI sector at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. By contrast, the U.S. has been more focused on developing the most advanced AI models while “the application layer has been totally ignored,” he said. China’s push was on full display in Shanghai at its World Artificial Intelligence Conference, which ran until Tuesday. Themed “Global Solidarity in the AI Era,” the expo is one part of Beijing’s bid to establish itself as a responsible AI leader for the international community.

Full opinion : Vying to control the future of artificial intelligence, Beijing is pushing the application of AI while the U.S. focuses on developing cutting-edge models.