How ‘policy convergence’ could pave the way for US-China cooperation on AI
Two nations could work together on areas like global governance and safety and promote local-level collaboration, according to researchers
The team highlighted “policy convergence” on AI at the local level and challenged the “conventional and stereotypical” expectations of policy models in China and the United States that mainly focused on divergence.
“Despite fierce competition between the two AI superpowers, policy convergence keeps open the possibility of future cooperation and negotiation, particularly on issues of global significance, such as AI governance and safety and security management,” the researchers said in a paper published in the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis in November.
The paper was co-authored by Lin Zhu from Polytechnic University, Wilson Wong from Chinese University of Hong Kong, Alfred M. Wu from the National University of Singapore, and Minqiang Zhu from Hang Seng University of Hong Kong.
China and the US have been locked in an intense rivalry over AI – a technology set to have a disruptive impact on society. The competition goes beyond innovation to encompass economic power, national security, military capabilities, and global influence.
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China shows off latest AI innovations at international conference in Shanghai
According to the paper, a prevailing “one-sided perspective” often characterises AI policy models in China and the US as “strictly binary”.