Toward a Transformed and Unequal World

With the increasing use of machine learning algorithms in strategic decision-making and military affairs, the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is bringing about significant changes to the current international system. AI applications will further tilt the global balance of power in favor of actors who can make the best use of the emerging technology. AI-assisted automation is also changing prevailing socioeconomic production models on the global scale; and in the not too distant future, it is expected to exert systemic impacts on the current global order. Having recognized the full potential of AI technology in propelling the next industrial revolution, China has adopted an AI development strategy for guiding a nation-wide campaign to harness AI power at an early stage, so as to seize the strategic initiative in an emerging global AI competition. China’s initial efforts have produced remarkable achievements with theoretical and practical implications.