China About to Overtake the US in Artificial Intelligence Research

A recent study has shown that China’s production of quality papers on AI research will overtake that of the US, which is the current world leader in AI research.

The findings show that China’s dream of expanding AI capabilities is about to become a reality through government investments in both educational facilities and private industries.

When it comes to volumes of high-quality research papers on AI, China went ahead of the US back in the year 2006. However, critics say that quantity doesn’t necessarily mean quality.

However, according to a new research conducted by the Seattle-based Allen institute, doesn’t just measure the volumes of research papers but the number of times they have been cited. This is a better approach for increased influence.

After analyzing more than 2 million research papers on AI, the Allen institute can easily say that China is ready to overtake the US, when it comes to most cited papers on AI.

Studies have shown that America’s share of most cited papers declines from 45% in 1982 to 29% by the year 2018. China’s share has been rising and it reached 26.5% last year.

While speaking to the Verge, Mr. Oren Etzioni the CEO of Allen institute said that research has completely refuted the claims of China’s contribution to AI as being incremental.

He further added that the quality of Chinese papers on AI is getting higher and higher with the passage of time. He further stated that it is a fact that these papers have been sighted mostly by Chinese researchers, but when it comes to the Best Paper Awards, China successfully manages to stand way out of the crowd.

Mere analysis of research is just one metric, but when it comes to overall AI output, industry experts say that America needs to move forward and make brave efforts.

A few months ago, American president, Mr. Donald Trump signed an order, which had something to do with increasing investment in the field of AI. However, the order was seemingly vague and said nothing about new findings. On the other hand, the scales of funding in AI vary from 20 million to 2 billion in some European countries.

Considering the numbers provided by Allen institute, one can say that advancement in AI is more of a global thing now, and isolation will not be helpful. Etzioni said that they need more funds and more fresh talent from all across the globe.