A new study from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has found that China is now ahead of the United States in the global competition for key emerging technologies, per Reuters.
The study, which was released today, found that China has a “stunning lead” in 37 out of 44 critical and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and robotics.
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“Western democracies are losing the global technological competition, including the race for scientific and research breakthroughs,” the report said, urging greater research investment by governments.
The United States still holds the lead in some areas, such as semiconductors and military technologies, but China is quickly catching up. In fact, the study found that China is now the world’s leading producer of scientific papers in 14 out of 18 emerging technology fields.
China has committed huge amounts of public and private funding to AI. China was bolstering its research with knowledge gained overseas, and the data showed one-fifth of the top Chinese researchers were trained in a Five Eyes country, it said.