How US–China AI competition could lead to war | Sihao Huang

Luisa Rodriguez speaks to Sihao Huang — a technology and security policy fellow at RAND — about his work on AI governance and tech policy in China, what’s happening on the ground in China in AI development and regulation, and the importance of US–China cooperation on AI governance.

They cover:
• Whether the US and China are in an AI race, and the global implications if they are.
• The state of the art of AI in China.
• China’s response to American export controls, and whether China is on track to indigenise its semiconductor supply chain.
• How China’s current AI regulations try to maintain a delicate balance between fostering innovation and keeping strict information control over the Chinese people.
• Whether China’s extensive AI regulations signal real commitment to safety or just censorship — and how AI is already used in China for surveillance and authoritarian control.
• How advancements in AI could reshape global power dynamics, and Sihao’s vision of international cooperation to manage this responsibly.
• And plenty more.

Chapters:
• Cold open (00:00:00)
• Luisa's intro (00:01:02)
• Is China in an AI race with the West? (00:03:20)
• How advanced is Chinese AI? (00:15:21)
• Bottlenecks in Chinese AI development (00:22:30)
• China and AI risks (00:27:41)
• Information control and censorship (00:31:32)
• AI safety research in China (00:36:31)
• Could China be a source of catastrophic AI risk? (00:41:58)
• AI enabling human rights abuses and undermining democracy (00:50:10)
• China’s semiconductor industry (00:59:47)
• China’s domestic AI governance landscape (01:29:22)
• China’s international AI governance strategy (01:49:56)
• Coordination (01:53:56)
• Track two dialogues (02:03:04)
• Misunderstandings Western actors have about Chinese approaches (02:07:34)
• Complexity thinking (02:14:40)
• Sihao’s pet bacteria hobby (02:20:34)
• Luisa's outro (02:22:47)

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_The 80,000 Hours Podcast_ features unusually in-depth conversations about the world’s most pressing problems and what you can do to solve them.

[quest_onchannel]

Great info. Best China ai update yet. More people should pay attention this

[smithright]

Sihao is a very knowledgeable and articulate speaker. Thanks for sharing.

[michelleelsom]

A great podcast, very enlightening. thank you

[FriscoFatseas]

excellent share, this conversation is hot on my radar

[xonious]

so this can be summed up by saying that this young engineer proposes that China are fragile as opposed to anti-fragile in their technology development. 27:30

[bobbyboyderecords]

It's going to be hard to protect the people from the AI saying things that it should not in the west or China.

[dovepenrol]

I do not think so ..usa already losed in AI competition if we matrix them into 3 important factors: model, Gpu and big data...
For model ..china wins
Gpu...usa wins
Big data...china wins ...
So 2:1 for china ...but it is possible that later day, china will win in GPU because due to industrial, more talents, environtments and government support
..