Dr. Kai Fu Lee: AI Superpowers
China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
Dr. Lee discusses China's Techno-Utilitarian policies (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
Dr. Lee hosts a book signing outside the venue before his talk (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
John Low (Marketing Co-Chair, ASNC Young Professionals Group) greets Dr. Lee and gets his copy of AI Superpowers signed (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
The audience listens to Dr. Kai-Fu Lee's discussion on AI (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
The audience listens as Dr. Kai-Fu Lee discusses AI (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
Dr. Lee takes questions from the audience following his talk (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
Dr. Kai-Fu Lee with Bill and Michelle Tai (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
Dr. Kai-Fu Lee with ASNC board members, VIP guests, and staff (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
From left: Michael Chui (ASNC Advisory Board Member), Dr. Lee, Margaret Conley (Executive Director, ASNC), and Jack Wadsworth (Honorary Chair, ASNC) (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
From left: Margaret Conley (Executive Director, ASNC), Dr. Kai Fu Lee, Jack Wadsworth (Honorary Chair, ASNC), and Matthew Rowett (Senior Program Manager, ASNC) (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
Dr. Kai-Fu Lee and Cindy Cui (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
From left: ASNC Board Members Bill Fuller, Michael Chui, and Rob Cox (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
From left: Kunal Shah (Director of Data Strategy and Information Management, Asia Society New York), Chris Hirano, and Abbas Revzi (Executive Director of Digital Strategy and Solutions, Asia Society New York) (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
Attendees enjoy the reception after Dr. Lee's talk (Frank Jang/Asia Society Northern California)
The Asia Society Northern California Center welcomed Dr. Kai Fu Lee, former head of Google China, to speak before a sold-out audience on Friday, September 28th. Dr. Michael Chui, McKinsey Partner, and Northern California Advisory Board Member introduced Dr. Kai Fu Lee, who came to speak about his new book, AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order. Dr. Kai Fu Lee, who currently runs Sinovation Ventures, an investment platform for AI Companies, started his speech with an audio clip: President Trump uncannily speaking in pitch-perfect Mandarin Chinese. This was a demonstration of AI's capabilities in forming natural, human sounding speech, showing how advanced "deep-fake" technology has become. The talk then focused on AI's present-day capabilities and capabilities that may only be a year away, noting that AI applications may drastically change society sooner than previously thought.
Dr. Kai Fu Lee's speech focused on portraying China and the U.S. as competitors, however, competitors that are operating in different "Parallel Universes". The model of innovation in China, Dr. Lee argued, is inherently different from the U.S. model, valuing "fusion and speed" over breakthrough technologies, "results-driven work over vision-driven modes of entrepreneurship", as well as "localized applications for software over globalized ones." Dr. Lee then focused on Chinese advantages over the U.S., including what he referred to as "Techno-Utilitarian Chinese Policies," but, he indicated that these policies are not "top-down reform agendas," from the Chinese Government, but rather, setting the stage for local governments and cities to incorporate AI applications in everything from urban design to public transit. Simultaneously, Chinese companies such as Meituan-Dianping, are using complex AI algorithms to rapidly build a customer base and new form of workforce—one that, he noted, U.S. technology giants may soon copy. The "shanzhai" or "copy-cat" culture of China has now swung back to the U.S. In the near future, he indicated, there are going to be frequent examples of U.S. based companies looking to China as the innovator.
Dr. Lee concluded his speech with a largely optimistic sentiment. Although AI will drastically change society as we know it, eliminating jobs and changing humanity's conception of work, he argued that the jobs that AI cannot do are the ones that are "more human." The jobs that AI may eliminate, he said, are the jobs that humans should never have been doing in the first place: repetitive tasks that were meant to be relegated to machines. "If there is a creator," Dr. Lee said, "he would see AI as a gift for humanity."
Watch the full video of Dr. Kai-Fu Lee's presentation below (1 hr., 2 mins)