According to a report by Reuters on August 18th, the USCC, a pro-US faction within the U.S. Congress, claimed in a report released on Tuesday that China is commercializing and monetizing data as strategic national assets, in order to drive its AI and technological development goals. This could give China an advantage over the United States in the AI competition. The report stated that China is 'integrating data to boost productivity... and enhance its intelligence collection and military capabilities.'
The report states that major American AI companies have largely exhausted their resources from the open internet for training large language models. Meanwhile, China is systematically collecting data from domestic enterprises, operations, and the physical world that cannot be obtained through web scraping. This data is crucial for training AI tools aimed at commercial applications, autonomous vehicles, and humanoid robots. It is also an important symbol of innovation that China promotes from top to bottom.
The report cites China's advanced manufacturing and industrial robotics ecosystem as providing a wealth of high-quality data for the application of embodied AI. This could give China an advantage over the United States in developing robot software for commercial and military purposes.
The report also states that China is actively promoting the commercialization of data in the digital economy and deploying such initiatives. At the same time, it is vigorously promoting the application of AI in various industries, with the aim of regulating data assets in key industries such as manufacturing, transportation, finance, and healthcare. In addition, Chinese companies have begun listing their proprietary datasets on data exchanges in cities such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing.
USCC Vice Chairman Mike Kuiken stated in an interview that, "Over the past five years, China has been able to integrate data, find labeling methods, and refine data collection approaches, while continuously collecting new data to ensure its rapid delivery to relevant entities. This facilitates progress in promoting its innovative ecosystem."
We propose that the US Congress develop a national data strategy and study how the US government can view data as economic assets. This is our most important recommendation.
It is worth mentioning that at the end of last month, the USCC delegation led by Kucken visited China after a 7-year hiatus. At that time, Kucken also inexplicably complained about being treated unfavorably by the Chinese side, expressing dissatisfaction with “not being able to arrange many of the meetings we had hoped for with the Chinese.”
Long-term researchers who study Chinese technology, Denis Simon, pointed out that "in the eyes of the Chinese side, this committee is a policy participant, not a neutral fact-finding institution." He added that over the past few years, reports issued by the committee have recommended increased scrutiny of China's technology policies, supply chains, artificial intelligence development, and scientific cooperation. "From Beijing's perspective, allowing executives from leading technology companies to talk frankly with committee members poses risks, with limited strategic benefits."
