Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / US President Trump to discuss AI with Chinese President Xi

Transcript

US President Trump to discuss AI with Chinese President Xi · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, China's President Xi Jinping is due to arrive in
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the United States later. President Trump will welcome him to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the White House on Thursday. They will talk about trade,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: technology and growing fears over the future of artificial intelligence.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: China is investing heavily to build the computing power it
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: needs to compete with the US. Our China correspondent Laura
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Bicker has had a rare look at the sites being
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: used in Inner Mongolia.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: If China is going to lead the world in artificial intelligence,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: here is where they are building the engines that will
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: drive it. We are in a remote corner of Inner Mongolia.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Just a few months ago, all of this was farmland.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Now, dozens of data centers are already under construction. There
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: are over 100 data centers in this one area alone. Now,
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: in parts of the US, data centres have become increasingly contentious.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Surveys suggest around 70% of Americans oppose them.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Here in China, they see it as a source of
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: national pride. And for many, it's becoming a source of
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: construction jobs as well. A debate has erupted over the
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: speed of the AI technology and whether or not there
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: should be a slowdown. But here in China, There is
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: no sign of that. In fact, President Xi Jinping will
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: meet Donald Trump in the White House this week. And
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: many hope that the main source of discussion will be
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence. But it's unlikely the two leaders can agree
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: when they are such fierce competitors.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Well, let's join Laura now. She's back in Beijing. Laura,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: it really is fascinating to compare the advancement of AI
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: in China and in the United States and just see
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the difference in attitude, the difference in sort of the
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: way it all works. Give us more information on that.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: So we do have a piece online that you can
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: go and have a deep dive into this. First of all,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: when it comes to those data centres, we did find
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: some voices of dissent, but overwhelmingly, these data centres are
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: being built without protest in vast parts of China, not
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: just in Inner Mongolia, but many, many rural areas as well.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: One of the reasons they're choosing these rural areas is
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: because there's already energy infrastructure in place, renewable energy, like
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: wind and solar, because China's push is to have 80%
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: of its data centers run on renewable energy by 2030.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Then when you come to the kind of AI models themselves,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: China uses what's called open source models. That means they
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: make the code available to all, to some extent, where
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: they believe that technological advancement is available. And that means
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: it's cheaper and more accessible to the likes of developing
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: nations to use. And they hope by using that method,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the other countries will find it easier to adopt Chinese
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: models of artificial intelligence. Then if we come to the
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: guidelines governing the likes of the artificial intelligence, which the
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: two leaders are likely to discuss in just the next
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: two days. When it comes to that, President Xi Jinping
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: has long pushed for global governance of artificial intelligence. And again,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: earlier this year, he was at the BRICS summit in India.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Once again, he called for nations to come together to
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: find ways to govern and produce a framework that everyone
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: can work to. Whereas in the United States, certainly that's
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: not something they're looking for. They're looking for a notification
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: system at the moment to try to highlight where the
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: two superpowers may be coming into contact when it comes
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: to artificial intelligence. especially with regards to national security. So
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: there is a lot for these two leaders to discuss
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: when they come together.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: So they'll be talking about AI for sure, as you've
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: just highlighted, but also trade will definitely be on their
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: agenda with the trade relationship between the two extremely fractious.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: What can we expect?
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Well, you and I have been on this programme a
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: lot over the last couple of years talking about trade
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: because everyone will remember when those tariffs soared to over
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: 100% when the two were in the midst of a
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: trade war. But when it comes to the trade truce
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: that was agreed between the two in Busan in October
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: last year, it needs to be extended. It runs out
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: in November. So I think what experts are looking for
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: and what they hope is that that trade truce will
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: at the very least be extended to give businesses kind
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: of a sigh of relief When it comes to the
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: likes of technology, it may well be that China pushes
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: for more access to high-end chips. And then I think
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Beijing's priority will also be Taiwan. They will want to
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: push the United States to stop selling arms to the
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: self-governing island that China claims as its own. But you've
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: been discussing Iran earlier in the programme. Now, we are
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: hearing that when it comes to kind of any negotiations
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: on what's happening in Iran, China, remember, has some leverage
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: over Tehran. It is the biggest buyer of oil. They
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: all have a close alliance. So it may well be
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: that President Trump and President Xi can discuss what's happening
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: in the Middle East. And Donald Trump could ask China
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: to put more leverage on Iran to come to the
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: negotiating table.