Intelligence manifests itself in a variety of ways. Do you remember the IQ test? It is used to calculate a person’s intelligence quotient. It was invented in France in the early 1900s as a method of tracking a child’s intellectual development. It’s supposed to tell you how intelligent you are.
Then there’s emotional intelligence (EQ), which measures how well you relate to others – how you assess emotional cues and respond to others’ feelings, or “how you read the room.”
According to modern leadership theory, we all need a high EQ to advance in the corporate ranks. A person with a high EQ is said to have strong communication skills and the ability to manage their own emotions as well as the emotions of others. Just thinking about it makes me anxious.
Human intelligence allows us to receive advanced warning when a bank is about to be robbed or a country is about to be invaded. You use your reasoning abilities to solve complex problems, such as how to avoid the bank at the time of the robbery. Human intelligence can range from picking up on a rumor to having direct knowledge of an impending event. You can be a good sleuth or a trained, professional spy or intelligence agent, but the one thing they all have in common is that you are human. However, as the world has become more complex, intelligence has grown exponentially in complexity beyond even human capability—to the point where it is almost “artificial.”
Artificial intelligence, also known as “AI,” is the new realm of true power.
Data sets, computer programming, big data analysis, machine learning, and highly advanced digital reasoning are all part of it. Artificial intelligence capabilities are the global muscles that define national strength. And it is here that America falls a little behind the curve.
According to new revelations by an outgoing Pentagon official, as well as constant news coverage on cybersecurity, hacks, and other invisible attacks, China is cleaning our clocks on artificial intelligence. Nicolas Chaillan, the Pentagon’s former software chief, recently resigned, claiming that China is on its way to global dominance in artificial intelligence due to the United States’ relatively slow pace of innovation.
Chaillan resigned last month in protest of the United States’ slow pace of technological development. According to Chaillan, America’s failure to pursue AI capabilities aggressively is putting the country at risk.
Unfortunately, these revelations about Chinese dominance over American artificial intelligence are not new. For years, think tanks, government agencies, and international organizations have been reporting on the growth of China’s AI sector. According to a major 2018 U.S. Department of Defense report, China is carrying out a multi-decade plan to expand the size and value of its economy, including technology transfers, increased levels of investment and acquisitions of U.S. companies, and a specific focus on artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, augmented and virtual reality. In a nutshell, AI.
The financial and digital management of China’s assets, as well as its growing prowess in areas reliant on computing, such as gene editing and robotics, can be used to track the country’s progress.
What’s new is that we’re discussing China’s competitive advantage more openly and honestly. The issue of Chinese “intelligence” has finally made its way from elite circles to the general public. Ordinary Americans are finally becoming aware of our competition with China, particularly at a time when supply-chain challenges and chip storages leave us vulnerable on products and services that China produces in large quantities.
A lingering pandemic, labor shortages in the United States, and a divided Congress and American public susceptible to disinformation, including from Beijing, are all problems. The Chinese are always eager to assert their superiority, but not always with facts.
So, how can we counter Chinese intelligence? As a country, we must work together to rebuild our infrastructure and invest in critical technologies such as artificial intelligence. To prepare our workforce to compete, we must recognize and address our shortfalls by making significant investments in our own educational technology.
Americans are astute. We recognize the challenges that lie ahead of us, and we must muster the courage to face them. The time has come.
