The $2.6 trillion spent on artificial intelligence, data centres and advanced chipmaking dwarfs the cost of previous infrastructure megaprojects. Yet AI has become a money pit for tech giants like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta, and the tech is failing to hit its stratospheric targets.
Could an AI crash take overinvested economies down with it? In the longer term, whose approach will dominate? Will it be the US’s private-led model with tech giants at the top? Or China’s tactic of spreading low-cost AI throughout the Global South, with an eye on dominating the future?
Bronwen Maddox is joined by Alex Krasodomski, director of Chatham House’s Digital Society Programme; James Kynge, a senior research fellow for China and the World with the Asia-Pacific Programme; and Creon Butler, director of the Global Economy and Finance Programme.
About Independent Thinking
Independent Thinking is a weekly international affairs podcast hosted by our director Bronwen Maddox, in conversation with leading policymakers, journalists and Chatham House experts providing insight on the latest international issues.
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