China, US still lead the world on AI cooperation despite recent drop

Amid the unfolding of what has generally been described as a ‘tech war’ between China and the United States, the world’s top two economies still enjoy the biggest collaboration with regard to artificial intelligence technologies research, reports South China Morning Post, citing a Stanford publication.

According to the report from the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, cooperation on AI research papers increased five-fold from 2010, with the two nations producing about 2.7 times more AI research papers between them in 2021. Co-operation between China and the United Kingdom on the same subject came second on the list, as outlined in the report.

Collaboration between Chinese and American researchers still tops the global chart, it has however witnessed a drop as a result of the recent tensions between both parties. This, the report states, is reflected in the fact that last year, the number of AI papers co-produced by researchers from both Chinese and U.S.-affiliated institutions dropped to 9,660, from over 10,000 co-authored research papers the year prior, writes SCMP.

As the report suggests, the drop in collaboration is due to a couple of factors including accusations of intellectual property theft aimed at some Chinese AI researchers and the halt in collaboration between some US and Chinese institutions. In the latter situation, the SCMP cites the case of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which has discontinued its research partnership with some Chinese tech giants such as Huawei and iFlyTek.

On another note, the Stanford report, as cited by SCMP, notes that China in 2021 produced the most AI conference papers, surpassing the European Union and the United States. It however fell to third position in terms of number of papers cited by AI conference researchers with just 15.32 percent, two places behind the United States which emerged on top with 29.52 percent of citations.

Another issue mentioned in the report is AI tech patent filings. It notes that China made the most AI technology-related patent filings last year — accounting for nearly 52 percent of all global filings. China however had fewer patent approvals granted with just 5.9 percent, as opposed to the United States’ 39.6 percent.

An academic study into the trust AI researchers have in different organizations and institutions last year showed low trust in U.S. companies and lawmakers, and even less in China’s government.

Article Topics

AI  |  biometrics  |  biometrics research  |  China  |  research and development  |  United States