By Representatives Loretta Sanchez and Greg Walden
To prevent fragmented AI regulation and losing global tech leadership to China, Congress should codify the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan into a national framework.
Top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan, which features artificial intelligence (AI) as a central strategy to strengthen China’s economy and military.
Under the framework, each of China’s 31 provincial-level governments will execute the plan locally to ensure the Party’s goals are met and that China surpasses the United States as the global technology leader.
Meanwhile, the United States has no formally adopted national AI strategy, and in just the first three months of the year, state legislatures have introduced more than 1,500 AI-related bills that threaten to drown tech innovators in red tape. A nation cannot win a global tech race with 50 different playbooks.
The Danger of China’s Technology Becoming the Global Standard
When it comes to advanced technology, it matters greatly which country builds the future. China’s technology is embedded with authoritarian values of censorship, control, and surveillance, whereas US technology reflects freedom, opportunity, and transparency. If the globe’s digital infrastructure is built on China’s technology, democratic ideals will be threatened. Consider these real-life examples:
- China’s AI models are built to erase history. Researchers tested four major Chinese AI systems and found all four refused to respond to—or simply erased—images of the Tiananmen Square massacre and the 2019 Hong Kong protests. As those models gain global users, they export those blind spots.
- China uses AI to censor the internet in real time. China’s AI platforms can scan content, flag violations, delete banned material, and suppress criticism to amplify party narratives within seconds.
- The Chinese government has used its technologies to impersonate American officials and forge US legal documents. All of this effort was with one goal in mind: to suppress and intimidate Chinese dissidents.
- Beijing is exporting its surveillance model. Chinese firms have marketed facial recognition and “smart city” surveillance systems to more than 80 countries, directly strengthening authoritarian governments.
The CCP has been explicit about its ambitions for AI as a central strategy to transform its military and economy. China is committed to emerging as the technological superpower by 2049 and is investing trillions to achieve that goal. Beijing has had a comprehensive AI plan since 2017 and aims to have 90 percent AI adoption by 2030.
Continue reading at The National Interest.