Eric Schmidt Warns 'China Is Going To Win' AI Race Unless Washington Fights With Funding And Instills 'American Values' At The Core

Former Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL chief executive Eric Schmidt says Beijing's sudden surge in artificial‑intelligence spending could vault China past the United States unless Washington redoubles its efforts — and he's urging President Donald Trump to do more than scrap his predecessor's policies.

What Happened: "As a result of the incredible success of DeepSeek, the Chinese government … has decided this is another national priority. They're pouring billions of dollars into this," Schmidt told tech investor Ameer Haj‑Ali during an online chat.

"So never underestimate the Chinese competition here." He added a blunt warning: "China is going to win this race … unless we get our act together."

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Trump has already revoked President Joe Biden's 2023 AI‑safety order and signed a new directive, as reported by AP, pledging to build systems "free from ideological bias." The President has since tightened export bans on AI chips to China that cost NVIDIA Corp. NVDA an estimated $5.5 billion in sales.

Schmidt argued that any U.S. strategy must embed democratic norms. "It's imperative that the winner in AI win using American values and not Chinese values," he said. "The American traditionally liberal values of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of movement … would be forgotten" if China sets the rules.

Why It Matters: Schmidt’s China warning arrives amid a growing debate on U.S.-China relations and the control of AI technologies. Former Facebook exec and well-known investor Chamath Palihapitiya over the weekend accused Nvidia of not acting in the best interest of the U.S., alleging the chipmaker’s efforts to bypass export controls.

In February, reports revealed that Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings TCEHY, Alibaba Group
BABA, and ByteDance increased their orders for Nvidia’s H20 AI chips, spurred by the rise of DeepSeek's cost-efficient AI models.

Photo Courtesy: Frederic Legrand – COMEO on Shutterstock.com

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