The AI Race is a Myth: Why "Who's Winning" is the Wrong Question
Who’s winning and losing in AI plays like a wacky race in that every week there seems to be a new leader. But that’s actually the wrong way of thinking about today’s AI revolution. The right questions are about the three Cs: Capability, Capital and Civics. That’s the lesson of Keith Teare’s latest That Was The Week tech newsletter which focuses on what he calls “the Year in Intelligence”. Nobody is winning the AI race, Teare argues, because it isn’t a race. Instead, it’s an endless innovation cycle without either a start or finish line. The three key questions are whether AI capabilities are solving real social and economic problems, whether we can fund a $200 trillion industrial rebuild, and whether the rewards can be equitably shared. Those are the questions we should be asking. Not who is winning or losing.
Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Episode 2260: Felipe Torres Medina laughs and cries about the American immigration system
Episode 2259: Why AI is about to transform everyone (yes, even you) into a coder
Episode 2258: Joyce Chaplin on how Benjamin Franklin warmed up America
Episode 2257: Kevin Fagan on a San Francisco story of homelessness that will break your heart
Episode 2256: Meenakshi Ahamed on the meteoric rise of Indians in America
Episode 2255: Nicholas Lalla on Reviving the American Dream in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Episode 2254: Why Trump wants to be the Godfather
Episode 2253: John Lechner on the deadly role of Russian Mercenaries in Ukraine
Episode 2252: How to Unstick the Future
Episode 2251: Kristian Ronn on why, in the short term, we all might be dead
Episode 2250 Rebecca Haw Allensworth on America's Cult of the Professional
Episode 2249: Caroline Fleck on the Skill Set that will Change your Life
Episode 2248: Yoni Applebaum on why America is STUCK in a Crisis of Immobility