Is China Closing the A.I. Gap Faster Than Expected?

Andrew here, in Cannes, France. Much of the media world and the globe’s largest marketers are flocking to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for meetings and networking — or what some critics deride as a giant boondoggle. Many boldfaced names are here, including Oprah Winfrey, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind and the podcaster Alex Cooper. (I’m here for less than 48 hours, so this is squarely for work purposes.)

And yet the war in the Middle East continues with uncertain prospects for peace. Here on the Croisette, the coming days will provide a real-time study in corporate cognitive dissonance. Can an industry obsessed with ad dollars and with engineering an A.I.-driven future remain insulated from the grinding friction of geopolitical risk?

This just in: Alan Greenspan, who as Fed chairman reshaped American capitalism over 19 years, died on Monday. He was 100. We’ll have more on his legacy soon.

Is Silicon Valley giving Chinese A.I. a boost?

China is still weighing heavily on the Trump administration’s approach to artificial intelligence, including a clampdown on Anthropic’s top models.

But corporate America isn’t showing as much reluctance about using Chinese A.I. — especially as newer models are quickly closing the gap with their American rivals.

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