How America Blew Its AI Leadership Position and How to Regain It

Al Naqvi is a professor and president at the American Institute of Artificial Intelligence. Mani Janakiram is a Manufacturing Supply Chain and Analytics Executive at Intel.

Below, Al and Mani share 5 key takeaways from their new book, At the Speed ​​of Irrelevance: How America Destroyed Its AI Leadership Position and How to Regain It. Listen to the audio version – read by Al and Mani themselves – on the Next Big Idea app.

1. America has failed to maintain its lead and compete effectively in the AI ​​space.

Just a decade or two ago, the US had a huge lead over the rest of the world in the field of artificial intelligence. But many recent reports confirm that China has overtaken the US in AI, at least in certain areas. This implies that China’s rate of progress must have been amazing, not only catching up but surpassing American leadership. While China made progress, the US weakened.

In 2018, General Mattis published a Defense Strategy for America, using the phrase “at the speed of relevance.” It was a powerful display of what America needed to do: stay at the forefront of AI and competitive technology. As General Mattis put it, it wasn’t just about developing technology—it was about successfully implementing it. Unfortunately, America has been making strides in AI, but not at the relevant rate.

2. If America falls behind in AI, it will fall behind in every other sector.

Dropping to second place in a given technology might not sound like a big deal. After all, America maintains a leadership position in so many other areas, from pharmaceuticals to defense. But AI isn’t just a capability like information or energy — it’s the underlying force driving innovation and productivity in every sector and industry.

“While China made strides, the US languished.”

So it’s only a matter of time before productivity gains and competitor innovation make American products and services less productive, less attractive, and less innovative. America agreed that China was the manufacturing center for the world, while the western world was seen as the elysium of service, research and development, and finance. But what changed the status quo was AI. In the words of Senator Marco Rubio, “China aspires to become a world leader in innovation and manufacturing. This would be an unacceptable outcome for American workers.”

3. America recognizes the need for a change in overall geopolitical strategy.

AI is the new battlefield, and every other battle – economic, social, business, or military – is now fought with AI. Suddenly, the world had no choice but to assume great power competition, and a new Cold War era had begun. It was not China’s economic rise as a manufacturing center that triggered the new Cold War. It was AI.

As we began to look at the various issues affecting the United States today – from extremism to racial tensions, ideological polarization, productivity declines and flawed economic forecasts – we realized that AI could play an important role in addressing and solving these problems . So not only can AI drive productivity and innovation across all sectors, but it can also help solve some of the biggest problems facing our country and the world.

“If AI is America’s future, shouldn’t it be the top priority of every US government?”

In this way, there is an opportunity cost if AI is not approached strategically. If AI is America’s future, shouldn’t it be every US government’s top priority? Well, we found that many glaring mistakes were made at various levels. Most importantly, the executive branch has not played a central role in introducing the technology to Americans – and how the technology is introduced to people is important.

4. Every new technology contains social meaning.

The social level emotional or semantic understanding of a technology determines the future direction of how a society embraces that technology, what meaning it derives from it, how enthusiastic it is about it, and how it conceptualizes it. For this reason, President Kennedy’s visions of America’s space program and the introduction of the Internet by President Clinton and Al Gore helped heighten excitement and mobilize America to assume new technological leadership roles. It created awareness and excitement and set the mood of the nation. They used words like “information superhighway” to convey to people, in simple terms, what the Internet is. This vision setting makes technology adoption successful.

“The mightiest force ever unleashed in the history of human civilization has had to find its own direction in an America divided by racial, religious, political and social tensions.”

Unfortunately, both the Trump and Biden administrations failed to create this vision for AI, and the AI ​​industry emerged in an orphaned state. The most powerful force ever unleashed in the history of human civilization has had to find its own direction in an America divided by racial, religious, political, and social tensions. Daily political distractions and bickering diverted attention from where it should be. At this point, the AI ​​revolution needed planning, hand-holding, TLC, and nurturing — but it wasn’t getting any of it.

5. Society was introduced to AI through its ethical and governance issues rather than its potential.

Because AI was a relatively new field, AI adoptions had to find an existing hook or anchor to bring the technology to the world. Unfortunately, this catch turned out to be the one terminator Robot. Society’s existing perception of AI has been shaped by Hollywood films. Hence, it became natural to link AI ethics and governance. There’s nothing wrong with that, and these are critical points for the AI. But ethics and governance are important considerations in anything people do. If you were to introduce the auto industry, would you start with the dangers of drunk driving? How excited would your audience be?

During America’s chaotic entry into the world’s most powerful transformation, the lack of vision and leadership has been transferred to the legislature and the authorities. We’ve seen the same chaos in the private sector, where companies struggled to explain AI to their customers. What is AI and how can it be useful? How should one invest in AI? Is AI a strategic transformation or just a point solution? Executives struggled to find answers to these questions.

To listen to the audio version read by authors Al Naqvi and Mani Janakiram, download the Next Big Idea app today: