A recent CNAS report said that China is pushing for advanced AI while reducing dependence on imported foreign technology to make its military systems as powerful as that of America. But it looks like a rather rocky road to achieving China’s grand goal to lead the AI sector.

US President, Donald Trump has signed an executive order asking the federal government to prioritize artificial intelligence in its R&D spending.

Obama administration did a lot of work towards AI and published multiple reports. However, that worked stalled under Trump administration. We lost valuable two years under Trump. In the meantime, China invested heavily in such emerging technologies. It’s better to be late than sorry.

The order directs the U.S. government to dedicate more investment into research, promotion and training on AI. However, there’s no specific funding goals outlined in the order.

Continued leadership in AI is of paramount importance to maintaining America’s economic and national security and “to shaping the global evolution of AI in a manner consistent with our Nation’s values, policies, and priorities,” the executive order said.

The initiative lays out 5 key objectives: to promote sustained investment in AI R&D; to enhance access to fully traceable Federal data, models, and computing resources; to reduce barriers to use of AI technologies; to ensure that technical standards minimize vulnerability to attacks from malicious actors; to train the next generation of American AI researchers and users; and to develop and implement an action plan in accordance with the National Security Presidential Memorandum.

(Swapnil Bhartiya contributed to this story)