AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order

This was quite the hyped book this year, and for good reason. I thought Lee did an excellent job (in an introductory sense) at beginning to translate the Chinese political, cultural and business community’s side of artificial intelligence development for an American audience.

The title of the book might mislead you a bit, though. Going into it, I thought the book would cover the strategic and geopolitical AI implications between the US and China, and it did somewhat, but Lee instead mostly focuses on the respective personalities and cultural features between the US and Chinese AI communities, rather than that of governments or militaries. This wasn’t at all a deficiency of the book, but with the subtitle of “The New World Order,” be sure to know that going in.

I especially thought Kai-Fu Lee’s views of the future of work in an AI-dominated China was very useful. This topic is very well covered in the United States, but rarely is there a nuanced and informed western book that discusses China’s future domestic workforce changes from their perspective.