Eric Schmidt Predicts China Will Soon Overtake the US in AI

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet and former Google CEO, told the U.S. New Security Center summit that China will soon surpass the United States in artificial intelligence (AI).

He said the U.S. will remain ahead for the next five years, but China is rapidly catching up and aims to lead globally in AI by 2030, applying the technology in both commercial and military domains.

Schmidt highlighted DeepMind’s AlphaGo as a well‑known AI achievement and noted China’s keen interest in AI, citing an invitation to DeepMind at a recent Go summit.

He argued that the U.S. is losing its edge because of insufficient policy support, limited investment in fundamental AI research, and restrictive immigration policies that hinder talent acquisition.

“Some of the best people can’t enter the United States. Do you want them to build AI elsewhere or here?” he asked, adding that he hopes top Iranian computer scientists would work for Alphabet and Google.

Schmidt also discussed AI’s potential benefits for the U.S. military, giving visual‑intelligence examples that could replace fatigued soldiers with tireless AI systems.

He said AI regulation is “premature” and that commercial firms sharing algorithms with governments may not be feasible, suggesting regulation should come later and that the U.S. needs a national coordinated effort on talent strategy.

Google has applied AI to cancer detection and to reduce electricity consumption in its data centers, claiming DeepMind systems improved efficiency by 15 % over top engineers.

Alphabet is currently recruiting in China for over twenty positions, many focused on machine learning and AI, and Google’s AI lead Li Jia announced job opportunities in Shanghai and Guangzhou at a May summit.

Google continues to promote its AI framework TensorFlow in China.