China Morning Missive
You’ve all probably seen at least a bit of the “Alex Carp” show over the past week. The Palantir CEO has been doing the rounds hyping up his company. This article linked below is a decent read as it provides a rather solid overview of just how detached Carp is on a host of issues.
The reason for making mention of this is how Carp’s comments dovetails with the ongoing AI competition between American and China. It is this quote, below, that had me howling with laughter, albeit not for the reasons you might think.
“We are going to be the dominant player, or China is going to be the dominant player, and there will just be very different rules depending on who wins,” he said. “So when people are worried about surveillance, of course, there are huge dangers there, but you know, you will have far fewer rights if America’s not in the lead.”
Once again, we find an example of the duality that defines what seems to be all American thought. Good versus Evil. With us or against us. If China wins, then American looses.
What Carp is doing here is clear. He is projecting. I’ve seen this on more China related issues than I can recall. Projecting has been one of the more critical factors in why it is so many just don’t understanding China. That’s a topic for another day.
Addressing Carp’s quote directly, China has already put in place a vast surveillance system. The advent of AI will certainly provide the Beijing authorities new tools, but that isn’t the motivational force behind China’s AI ambitions.
There was a great quote I read recently. Something along the lines of “America’s AI ambitions are to create God in a box. China’s AI ambitions are meant to be deployed commercially.” Basically, China is looking to us AI to support its manufacturing ecosystem. Become an even more efficient builder of all things.
Carp is showing his hand along with the entire premise behind the American drive for AI. By making it all an issue of surveillance, Carp is letting the American people know – very openly – the actual goals he and his ilk are working towards.
https://gizmodo.com/palantir-ceo-says-a-surveillance-state-is-preferable-to-china-winning-the-ai-race-2000683144
