Robot nationalism has arrived, and SA will have to plug in too
Apart from devising its own artificial intelligence strategy, the government must promote international collaboration
In June 2018 UK-based angel investor Ian Hogart published an essay in which he predicted the birth of “AI nationalism”. In short, he argued that advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) would “drive the emergence of a new kind of geopolitics” where countries engage in “an accelerated arms race” to “speed up the pace of AI development”.
Hogart’s prediction is beginning to come true. In 2020 the US federal government will spend about $1.3bn (R20bn) on AI research and development, and US legislators are currently considering a bill that will allocate $100bn (R1.5-trillion) over five years to the country’s National Science Foundation, “to lead investment and research in artificial intelligence and machine learning”...
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