In the second half of the 20th Century, it was the race to develop nuclear arms that occupied some of the finest minds in the US and the Soviet Union. Now the US finds itself in a different kind of race with a different adversary: China. The aim is to dominate technology; specifically Artificial Intelligence (AI). It’s a fight taking place in research labs, on university campuses, and in the offices of cutting-edge start-ups – watched over by leaders of some of the world’s richest companies, and at the highest levels of government. It costs trillions of US dollars. And each side has its strengths – something Nick Wright, who works on cognitive neuroscience at University College London (UCL), neatly sums up as the battle between “brains” and “bodies”.

Full comparision Both the United States and China don’t want to let their rival dominate. And the competition may yet be transformed further.