Is China Pulling Ahead on AI? – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

DeepSeek probably should have headlined American news for at least 24 hours when it launched in January — and it probably would have if we hadn’t been a little preoccupied with the political tornado that went through the Oval Office at just about the same time. 

There were, of course, a couple of articles speculating that DeepSeek marked a massive shift in the AI race between the U.S. and China, but for the most part Americans stopped paying attention pretty quickly. That said, while we’ve been cheering on DOGE and celebrating the fall of the woke American political order, China’s economy seems to have suddenly hit a fast track. To put it simply, DeepSeek and the possibility of cheaply produced powerful AI injected all sorts of energy into Chinese markets, and stocks are now “experiencing their best start to the year on record.” (READ MORE: JD Vance: An Intelligent Speech for an Artificial Audience)

Chinese innovation isn’t stopping with DeepSeek. Late last week, a Wuhan-based tech company released an AI assistant named Manus, which became so popular within the first few hours of its release that the system’s servers crashed due to the large number of logins. At the moment, if you want to use Manus, you can either get in a long line of users on a waiting list or spend a small fortune on an invite code. 

But popularity is only part of it. As it turns out, Manus is actually pretty good at its job (despite the whole server crash thing), and — for once — its job isn’t to fire back snarky remarks or have a conversation with a person. According to its co-founder and chief scientist, Yichao “Peak” Ji, Manus doesn’t just stop at generating (or summarizing) ideas, it’s supposed to be capable of executing them as well. In other words, it’s “potentially a glimpse into AGI.” 

Ah yes. That’s the wonderful and fantastical thing AI tech gurus are ultimately after: the moment when machines achieve artificial general intelligence and become their own autonomous brains, independent of human input. Manus isn’t there quite yet, but — according to Caiwai Chen, a reporter at MIT Technology Review — it’s decently good at what it claims to do: 

“I found that using it feels like collaborating with a highly intelligent and efficient intern: While it occasionally lacks understanding of what it’s being asked to do, makes incorrect assumptions, or cuts corners to expedite tasks, it explains its reasoning clearly, is remarkably adaptable, and can improve substantially when provided with detailed instructions or feedback. Ultimately, it’s promising but not perfect.”

The rapid-fire developments of both DeepSeek and Manus should concern us. Like it or not, America is in a tech race with China. All China has to do to unseat the U.S. as the unquestioned preeminent global power is develop better tech faster and cheaper than the U.S. can — and China knows it. The question is, does America know it? (READ MORE: The Spectacle Ep. 191: DOGE and Artificial Intelligence Reveal Government Corruption)

For the last couple of years, American tech companies have been hampered by the Biden administration’s regulations on artificial intelligence. Concerned about potential issues (like compromising personal data, copyright infringement, and other risks.), the administration first released its “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights” and then an executive order to try to address those concerns. While the concerns were valid (AI-generated revenge porn is something we should be protecting people against), the administration took a somewhat heavy-handed approach to regulation, and tech companies complained that the executive order put “any investment in AI at risk of being shut down at the whims of government bureaucrats” — not exactly a good way to encourage investment.

Just days before Donald Trump took office, former President Joe Biden signed the AI Diffusion Rule. NVIDIA promptly pointed out that the 200-plus-page executive order imposed “bureaucratic control over how America’s leading semiconductors, computers, systems and even software are designed and marketed globally.” 

The good news is that none of that matters now. Trump rescinded those orders almost the minute he got ahold of a pen in the Oval Office, and his administration (beginning with ex-Silicon Valley man JD Vance) has said that it is interested in supporting American tech startups and companies in this global race to improve artificial intelligence. What remains to be seen is whether American tech companies can catch up with the progress their Chinese counterparts have made. (READ MORE: Removing Export Rules on AI Should Be a Priority for the Trump Administration) 

U.S. tech companies have been somewhat held back by regulations in the last four years. While those regulations weren’t totally inappropriate (AI safety is something this administration could probably be a little more concerned about — but that’s another article), the development of DeepSeek and Manus does demonstrate that we’ve fallen behind. Now that they’re out, the race is on.