Imagine if during World War II, protesters had gathered outside factories making tanks and planes, and tried to shut them down.Or that just before Pearl Harbor, when American industry was "hyperscaling" its defense infrastructure in order to make the country ready for war, cities and counties had placed restrictions on new plant and shipyard openings and tried to dictate what could be produced where — as long as it wasn’t near them.Any commonsense observer in 1940-1941 would know the only beneficiaries of these obstructionist tactics were our nation’s enemies.That was one kind of war.
Today we face another kind, an artificial intelligence (AI) war with China.The aims of both combatants, in looking to dominate the technology that will rule the future, couldn’t be more different.
While U.S.companies and the Trump administration see AI as a tool to make the world more prosperous and individuals freer and more autonomous; China’s goal in the AI sector is developing the tools to further enslave their own population while shaping a global hegemony "with Chinese characteristics," i.e.
total control by Beijing.BLANCHE URGED TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN FIGHT AGAINST DATA CENTERSChina and the U.S.are the only two countries poised to dominate the future of AI.
Between them they control 90% of AI compute capacity; yet America’s share comes to 75% compared to just 15% for China.It’s true China has focused on key applications in industrial use of AI, and also in treating AI as a decisive military and strategic asset.
But the U.S.is still dominant in generative AI and AI innovation, and is moving fast to make up ground in the industrial and military spheres.Protesters react as the Box Elder County Commission approves a large AI data center project in Tremonton, Utah, on May 4, 2026.
Activists opposed the proposed 40,000-acre development over concerns about water use, energy demand and environmental impact.(Natalie Behring/Getty Images)But not i...