While the U.S. has been a world leader in research and development, spending $497 billion in 2015, China has boosted spending by 200 percent between 2000 and 2015 and is on track to surpass the U.S. in research investment by the end of 2018, the report said. Chinese President Xi Jinping has said he wants his country to become a world leader in artificial intelligence technologies by 2030, building a domestic industry that could be worth about $150 billion. “The loss of American leadership in AI could also pose a risk to ensuring any potential use of AI in weapons systems by nation-states comports with international humanitarian laws,” Hurd and Kelly wrote. “In general, authoritarian regimes like Russia and China have not been focused on the ethical implications of AI in warfare, and will likely not have guidelines against more bellicose uses of AI, such as in autonomous weapons systems.” Artificial intelligence systems refer to a suite of technologies that bestow computers with many aspects of human intelligence ranging from perception, image recognition and listening skills to game-playing, car-driving and physical movement in three-dimensional space. The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has said it plans to invest about $2 billion to bolster American leadership in the area, including research into so-called third-wave technologies that will make it possible for computers to adapt to changing situations, as opposed to following pre-set rules.
China has increased its spending on AI research, to the point that it is set to overtake US investment by the end of this year, according to a report by House of Representatives' lawmakers released in The paper calls for increased federal funds to be spent on education and training programmes to give US workers the skills needed to "maintain American leadership with respect to AI". China's President Xi Jinping said he wants the country to be a world leader in AI by 2030.