Tuesday, February 4, 2025 - 12:00 AM
On January 10, 2025, DeepSeek, a Hangzhou-based artificial intelligence (AI) platform founded in 2023, released its first free chatbot app, which is said to match the capabilities of models from its U.S. counterparts, including OpenAI and Google, while using a fraction of their computing power. This milestone underscores China’s rapid AI progress despite U.S. restrictions on advanced semiconductors, potentially narrowing the technological gap between the two countries and challenging U.S. dominance in the field.
With AI being a key area in technological development and trade, understanding the dynamics of this race is more urgent than ever. On February 4, 2025, Kevin Xu and Jimmy Goodrich join Lizzi Lee to discuss the implications of China’s AI advances and the future of U.S.-China AI competition.
Speakers
Jimmy Goodrich
Jimmy Goodrich serves as a senior advisor for technology analysis at the RAND Corporation, senior associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and a non-resident fellow at the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, where he conducts research on China, technology, and national competitiveness. Previously, Mr. Goodrich was vice president for global policy at the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), leading initiatives on supply chain management, international trade, export controls, market research, and China policy. He previously directed China policy at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) in Washington, D.C., and spent seven years working in China’s tech sector, including at Cisco System, APCO Worldwide, and the United States Information Technology Office (USITO). He is a member of the NCUSCR Track 2 Dialogue on the Digital Economy.
Mr. Goodrich holds a bachelor’s degree in comparative politics and East Asian studies from Ohio University.
Kevin Xu
Kevin Xu is the founder of Interconnected Capital, a hedge fund that invests in the digital picks and shovels of the global AI economy. He also writes Interconnected, a bilingual English/Chinese newsletter exploring the intersection of technology, business, and geopolitics. His commentary has been cited in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, and Wired, among other media outlets. Mr. Xu previously worked as a senior executive at GitHub and as a venture capitalist, and served in the White House and Commerce Department under President Obama.
Mr. Xu holds a J.D. from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.
Moderator
Lizzi C. Lee
Lizzi C. Lee is a fellow on the Chinese economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis. She is also the host of the New York-based independent Chinese media outlet Wall St TV. Her writing has been featured in The Diplomat, The China Project, World Politics Review, and Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center’s Russia Matters. Her research and insights have been highlighted by Bloomberg, NPR, the South China Morning Post, Al Jazeera, The Sinica Podcast, the Chicago Council for International Affairs, the NEXTChina conference, and Columbia China Forum, among others, providing analysis and commentary on key developments and policy shifts in China’s economic landscape.
Dr. Lee holds a Ph.D. in economics from MIT and a B.A. in economics and mathematics from Wellesley College.
