Andrew Ng: "There is now a path for China to surpass the U.S. in AI"
Influential AI expert states what the major trends have been showing for the last 12 months. Learn more at GAI World 2025 in Boston Sep 29-30
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Andrew Ng is a well-respected AI expert at Stanford and was a cofounder of Google Brain and the former Chief Scientist at Baidu. An independent thinker in Silicon Valley, he recently wrote an article about China’s path to surpassing the U.S. in AI and here are notable excerpts:
“There is now a path for China to surpass the U.S.”
“Although the U.S. remains ahead, China has significant momentum with its vibrant open-weight model ecosystem and aggressive moves in semiconductor design and manufacturing. In the startup world, we know that momentum matters.”
“The White House’s AI Action Plan, released last week and explicitly supporting open source (among other initiatives), is a positive step for the U.S. However, by itself, it will not be sufficient to maintain America’s lead.”
“There is no single finish line.”
“Many of the top AI models now come from China.”
“In semiconductors as well, China is making progress. Huawei’s CloudMatrix 384 aims to compete with Nvidia’s GB200 high-performance computing system.”
Andrew advocates for greater U.S. government action to remove barriers and increase investment in open science and technology.
Every investor, executive, and AI leader needs to be aware of these developments—yet most are not, in my experience. On a recent podcast, Marc Andreessen stated that the most important question is whether the U.S. or China will lead and dominate AI in the next ten years.
Here are a few more illustrative comparison charts
Electricity for new data centers is critical and China is way ahead of the US.
What does it mean for the AI leaders?
Understand how AI industrial policy changes between the US and China could affect your company
Do not get blindsided by AI-empowered Chinese competitors
Consider pros and cons of powerful open-source Chinese AI models hosted by trusted cloud provided or on-prem deployment.
Attend our 3rd annual conference, GAI World 2025, and learn more about how companies are thinking about using open source Chinese AI models and the competitive impacts of AI-enabled Chinese competitors.
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Confirmed speakers
Healthcare providers:
Dr. John Halamka, President, Mayo Clinic Platform
Dr. Thomas Kingsley, Director Epidemiology AI Lab, UCLA Health
Gaye Bok, Partner, AI and Digital Innovation Fund, Mass General Brigham
Dr. Ryan Vega, Chief Health Officer, Vantiq
Life Sciences/Bio
Kausar Riaz Ahmed, Director, Generative AI, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)
Vivek Mukhatyar, Generative AI Medical Engagement Lead, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)
Sharna Sattiraju, Director AI Products & Platforms, Boston Scientific
Christopher Boone, Group VP of Life Sciences, Oracle (NYSE: ORCL)
Neha Shah, Senior Director Medical Affairs, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Nathan McBride, SVP IT, Xilio Therapeutics
Financial services/Insurance/Payers
Brionna Jimerson, VP of AI Product Marketing, JPMorgan Chase & Co
Heather Lavoie EVP and CIO, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
Bill Fandrich, EVP of Technology and Operations, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
Monica Caldas, Global Chief Information Officer, Liberty Mutual
Jean Olive, CIO, John Hancock, division of Manulife Financial Corp (NYSE: MFC)
Barbara Widholm, VP of AI, State Street Bank (NYSE: STT)
Venkat Vedam, Head of Generative AI, Manulife Financial Corporation (NYSE: MFC)
Vinay Gidwaney, Chief Product Officer, OneDigital
Melissa Smith, CEO, WEX (NYSE: WEX)
Karen Stroup, Chief Digital Officer, WEX (NYSE: WEX)
Harvard and MIT
Shikhar Ghosh, Professor, Harvard Business School
Ramesh Raskar, Professor and Director Media Lab, MIT
David Edelman, Professor, Harvard Business School
Jeffrey Rayport, Professor, Harvard Business School
John Werner, MIT Fellow and Founder, Imagination in Action
Investors - private equity - VC - Board of Directors
Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, Chief Investment Officer Americas, UBS
Ian Roberton, Director Technology/AI, American Securities
Vikram Mahidhar, Operating Partner - AI, Apollo Global Management·
Drake Pruitt, Operating Partner, Innovation - AI, Clearhaven Partners
Gamiel Gran, Chief Commercial Officer, Mayfield Fund
Kent Lucas, Founding Partner, Non Sibi Ventures
Rudina Seseri, Managing Partner, Glasswing Ventures
Ramesh Razdan, Global CIO, Bain Capital
Retail/E-Commerce
Parag Shah, VP Data, CarGurus (NASDAQ: CARG)
Ben Kasdon, VP Products, CarGurus (NASDAQ: CARG)
Veronika Durgin, VP Data, Saks (NYSE: SKS)
Advisors / Influencers / Analysts / Legan
Randy Bean, Senior Advisor, Data & AI Leadership Exchange
Mike Grandinetti, Serial Tech Entrepreneur & Faculty, Harvard
Tom Davenport, Professor, Babson College
Sanjeev Mohan, Principal, SanjMo
Bethany Withers, Partner, Goodwin
Kaitlin Betancourt, Partner, Goodwin
Manufacturers/OEM
Danielle Dean, Sr. Director of AI, SimpliSafe
Nina Lee Grooms, Board Member, Alamo Group (NYSE: ALG)
Ankit Mangal, VP Data and Software engineering, Cirkul
Information Services / Education
Dan Slagen, Chief Marketing Officer, Tomorrow.io
Jim Chilton, CTO Cengage
“The AI revolution is under-hyped” — Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google
Onward,
Paul
.