Josh Gans responds to Acemoglu: US and China are running different AI races, not a zero-sum one
joshgans · x · 2026-10-07
MIT economist Daron Acemoglu poses the final of his six questions on AI: does AI need to be a zero-sum race between the US and China? He notes that much of Silicon Valley and the current US administration argue it does, but the framing assumes a single direction of progress toward superintelligence that both countries chase.
Economist Josh Gans quotes and responds, arguing the question should be flipped: is AI actually a zero-sum race? Drawing on this year's NBER Economics of AI conference, which he centered on AI in China, his takeaway is that there is no real race at all. US labs are far outstripping Chinese labs on frontier model capability; China's more interesting effort goes into dissemination through consumer apps and physical robots. If there is a race, the two countries are mostly competing in different events. That, in turn, reshapes both the need for and the prospects of US-China coordination.
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