Skip to Content
Artificial intelligence

China has a new plan to create an army of AI researchers

April 5, 2018

A new school for machine learning hopes to churn out Chinese tech talent—and surprisingly, it’s being helped by some of North America’s finest AI minds.

Background: China plans to become the world leader in AI by 2030. That feat will only be accomplished with a lot more AI talent.

The news: Wired reports that Kai-Fu Lee, the former chief of Google’s operations in China who now runs an investment firm focused on AI, just launched a school to train more Chinese AI talent. It could add close to a thousand new AI graduates every year, right from the start.

AI showdown: There’s an ongoing race between America and China to take over the market for AI projects—from the cloud to chips. And this is all now happening against the backdrop of  a trade war focused on technological expertise.

But: It’s not a competition to everyone. Renowned Western researchers like Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopcroft will take part in teaching at the new school. Meanwhile, Lee argues that both countries publish research papers, so any improvement in Chinese AI fortunes will benefit the US and the world. Donald Trump may not agree.

Deep Dive

Artificial intelligence

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch

Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.

What’s next for generative video

OpenAI's Sora has raised the bar for AI moviemaking. Here are four things to bear in mind as we wrap our heads around what's coming.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.