Surveys appear to suggest that there is little opposition to AI or its widespread adoption, compared to so many other countries, but it’s hard to evaluate these figures in such a heavily-censored climate.
Beijing has been quite clear that it sees AI as a solution to its ageing workforce, and is rapidly automating manufacturing and production. That is producing anxiety over job losses, which, again, is hard to measure.
But this is also a country that is producing around five million science and tech graduates each year, compared to around half a million in the US.
And as more of them stay in China, they see a growing ecosystem for innovation.
AI developer Dang Ronghao, 27, who works for a leading tech company says Chinese campuses are becoming more open, allowing him to talk to researchers all over the world from his base in Shanghai.
“I’ve seen research combining AI with nuclear fusion, AI with astrophysics, AI with new materials, and AI with the development of new drugs. I think we are entering a good era.”
Even so, some argue that China still rewards conformity over challenge. “It’s not as open as I wish,” says Professor Liu Jun, Department of Statistics and Data Science at Tsinghua University. He has taught at both Harvard and Stanford.
“I keep encouraging students here to ask more questions, to challenge more, but that’s hard to change. I think partly it’s culture, partly it’s the system.”
