As Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was visiting China earlier this week, a sea-green Chinese smartphone was quietly launched online.
It was no normal gadget. And its launch has sparked hushed concern in Washington that U.S. sanctions have failed to prevent China from making a key technological advance. Such a development would seem to fulfill warnings from U.S. chipmakers that sanctions wouldn’t stop China, but would spur it to redouble efforts to build alternatives to U.S. technology.
It’s more of a weapon system and AI-model issue. Think of Russians using missiles filled with Chinese-manufacturered electronics rather than US ones. Now US sanctions are less effective (even in the face of all the smuggling that happens anyway).
In the same way, think of China training militarily useful AI models on hardware they no longer need the US to supply. Things like models for more effectively deadly biological or chemical compounds. Or even targeting and decision making algorithms. In a war, they would be able make their own hardware to support such efforts, rather than being reliant on the US.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter in times of peace, or if we were all able to get along with each other. But seeing as everyone is trying to have an advantage on all other potential enemies, this presents a problem.
