alt Hacker NewsThe desire to accuse China of just copying is like 20 years out of date. It’s been wrong since some people on HN were in diapers.
People are going to be gobsmacked when, in our lifetime, China becomes a world power comparable to the U.S. Probably still poorer per capita, but at Spain/Italy levels, not third world country levels. And they’ll be shocked at the implications of that on the world economy, migration patterns, etc. There will be fields where China is a global leader, and Americans and Europeans will have to learn Chinese and move there, or else be stuck in some satellite office of a Chinese company. We’re all in Europe circa 1895 not realizing the behemoth America will become in WWI.
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There are huge evidence of copying.
Some day China can pioneer in science or technology but the current claim about Chinese companies leading AI development is ridiculous given the evidence of distillation and the fact that like 95 percent of science that lead to the current state of AI happened in either North America or Europe.
To be honest if you want to list academic papers that lead to the current AI models the majority is either done by Google Research or sponsored by Google.
I am still shocked Spain/Italy and USA are considered 'first world' countries. We are not in 70s or even 90s anymore. I've been to China in 2011 also thinking I am visiting some huge village but...that was the most futuristic trip I ever had. I was surprised by the penetration level of the mobile devices - everything had a QR code, you could buy/sell/send money, pay services all with a single tap on a phone.