Artificial intelligence (AI) development has become a race among nations, with the winners expected to wield significant power in defining and dominating the future economically and geopolitically. In this competition, the US and China are the front-runners, with both countries drawing from their strengths: the US has cutting-edge hardware, research, and talent, while China has a massive trove of AI-ready data to fuel technological development, and a strong political will to succeed.
Their dominance in the tech sector undoubtedly has strategic implications for Southeast Asia, which predominantly relies on importing and using AI technology from those two countries. What are the implications of choosing the technology of one country over the other? Will Southeast Asian countries face problems related to digital colonisation and national sovereignty?
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