China Set to Toughen IP Laws in Pursuit of Tech Dominance
The country’s Made in China 2025 plan, in which it compares “controlling global technologies and standards [as being] on par with building military muscle,” is a key driver of an effort “to strengthen laws on patents, copyrights and trademarks.” The plan “focuses on sectors like electric cars, robotics, semiconductors and artificial intelligence.”
China wants to become the most dominant nation in artificial intelligence, and it’s got three advantages that might help that become a reality. In addition to strong government support, which includes a willingness to share data about its citizens, China also has an immense number of engineers to write software and 751 million Internet users who can test out the work they do. As China seeks to gain market share, President Xi Jinping seeks to strengthen intellectual property laws to give its startups an advantage.
“In China, the population is huge, so it’s much easier to collect the data for whatever use-scenarios you need,” he said. “When we talk about data resources, really the largest data source is the government.”
Companies elsewhere in the world are also pursuing AI, but have a much tougher time getting access to data; according to Bloomberg, “DeepMind, the AI lab of Google’s Alphabet, has labored for nearly two years to access medical records from the U.K.’s National Health Service for a diagnostics app.”
“AI needs big data, and Chinese regulators are now on the side of making data accessible to accelerate AI.”
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/china-set-to-toughen-ip-laws-in-pursuit-of-tech-dominance/