Three years ago, in 2021, Henry Kissinger and two other noted gurus, Eric Schmidt, owning a technical background and who later became CEO of Google, and Daniel Huttenlocher, who founded Cornell Tech and was dean of MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, penned the book The Age of AI and Our Human Future. The book was published by Little Brown in New York.

The authors discussed the history of artificial intelligence, including how it grew in the West; how it will expand our knowledge and serve progress; and finally, how it may become a peril to humanity.

The most discussed other country in the book was China. That was natural given that China was the other major player in the world in developing and using AI. In fact, it was perhaps ahead of the United States. If it is not, it soon would be, given its financing of vast research on AI and related science.

How then do Americans and Chinese differ in their views of AI? Clearly, they do. Put in simple terms America is more pessimistic and fearful over AI than China, which is more optimistic and hopeful. Why is this so?

One reason, say Chinese academics, is that China and America are at different phases or stages of their history.

Post-WWII, America was so dominant economically and militarily, it almost alone designed a new global system. It funded serious aid programs to help developing nations, sustained a powerful military to keep its version of peace throughout the world, and much more. Subsequently, however, the nuclear standoff and thoughts of a nuclear war dampened its spirits and its optimism.

In 1976, China’s supreme leader, Mao Zedong, died and Deng Xiaoping transformed China into a free market, free trade, an essentially capitalist country. It boomed economically as if there were no tomorrow. Also, China modernised quickly in science and technology. It began to compete with the United States for global status.

In 2008, the US experienced a serious economic recession. Recovery took longer than in almost any time in history. China continued to boom unfazed. Thus, China passed the United States by a number of metrics of global power. In 2009, China became the world’s largest exporting country. In 2013, it became the planet’s biggest trading country, passing the United States. In 2014,........

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