China Has Authoritarian Edge in AI Innovation: Adrian Wooldridge

One of the liberal world’s core beliefs is that freedom confers an advantage in breakthrough technology. Closed societies may be first-rate followers. They may be able to copy and steal better than their messier rivals. But, because they lack the magic ingredient of freedom of discussion and exchange, they will never be able to generate real innovation. This matters for military reasons as well as economic ones.

The idea that all sorts of good things go together is a comforting one. But is it true? The AI revolution gives us a good chance to test this idea. AI is perhaps ...