Trend Innovation versus diffusion: diverging US and Chinese AI strategies

Summary

Both Washington and Beijing now steer the transition to an AI economy through high-level national roadmaps, but their emphases differ. The US AI Action Plan, built on innovation, domestic infrastructure and international diplomacy and security, seeks to lock in American leadership while containing adversaries. China's AI+ plan instead stresses diffusion of AI across industry and society, setting staged goals that run to 2035. The report sees US-China separation in AI moving at different speeds across layers, fastest in chips and cloud infrastructure and slower in data, talent and research. In global AI governance, Washington works through allies and partners around US values, while Beijing builds its coalition around the Global South.