2024年4月25日，瑞士圣加伦大学发布《精英质量报告2024》（EQx2024）。复旦发展研究院经济学博士后石烁和复旦管理学院管理学博士后欧阳晗振为EQx2024承担了政府人工智能准备指数和全球人工智能指数的数据分析工作，并撰写评论“Artificial Intelligence for Value Creation”。该评论指出，尽管发达国家在利用人工智能改进行政效率上保持领先地位，但中国在人工智能创新以及产业化、商业化上位于全球前列，已形成巨大的经济价值创造能力。我们特转发评论，以飨读者。

Artificial intelligence (AI) has generated great expectations of technological breakthroughs, such as natural language processing, facial recognition, and robotics. As the use of AI has grown across a wide range of sectors, more countries are applying AI technologies to update the quality and coverage of public services and mobilizing more resources to facilitate the development of AI industries. AI is deemed a source of great value creation in the EQx, even though it has been deemed an existential threat. Here, the focus is how countries perform when using AI from a value creation lens. Two datasets for AI are used for the first time in the EQx2024, the Government AI Readiness Index (GAR) in the Giving Income Pillar (iii.7) to indicate political value; and the Global AI Index (GAI) in the Produce Value Pillar (iv.10) to indicate the sustainable value creation agency of firms.

In the EQx2024, advanced countries like the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Finland, Canada, France, the Republic of Korea, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, Norway, Sweden, and Austria, have emerged as leaders in the Government AI Readiness Index (GAR, iii.7). This index, ranging from the United States at # 1 to Austria at # 15, is a crucial benchmark for assessing a country’s preparedness for AI adoption. These countries, with a mean overall GAR score of 92.2 and a standard deviation of 4.10, are tightly clustered around the top of the index. Their high rankings are a testament to their significant efforts in enacting laws and legislation to promote and regulate AI development, with the United States being a regulative frontrunner.  In 2019, then-President Trump released an executive order, “Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” committing to sustain and enhance the scientific, technological, and economic leadership of the United States in AI research and development. In 2020, the United States passed the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act to establish national agencies to support federal AI activities at several core national foundations and research facilities. Further, in 2023, the Biden Administration convened representatives from seven top American AI companies, namely Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI, and announced voluntary commitments from each of them to contribute to safe, secure, and transparent development of AI technology.

While advanced countries excel in AI readiness, China, ranking # 1 in the Global AI Index (GAI, iv.10), shares the top spot with the United States (rank # 1, GAI, iv. 10). Moreover, China’s unique approach to AI regulation sets it apart as a global frontrunner in generative AI. In 2023, China introduced a critical regulation, “Measures for the Administration of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services,” with open and supportive requirements for generative AI developers and security standards, demonstrating its commitment to staying ahead in this rapidly evolving field. China’s emphasis on international coordination in AI regulation is also noteworthy, as evidenced by its signing of the Bletchley Declaration with twenty-seven other governments. This declaration aims to foster collaboration on AI safety research and global governance. Despite its regulatory efforts, China is also actively pushing the development of its AI industry, with 232 investments recorded in 2023 and an estimated total amount raised by Chinese AI firms of USD 2 billion, [1] an important number that pales with the US where Microsoft’s investment into OpenAI alone amount to USD 10 billion. Chinese AI firms became more competitive when Baidu launched ERNIE Bot to enter the fray of large language models with start-ups like Zhipu AI, MiniMax, Baichuan AI, and 01.AI demonstrating remarkable innovation capacity.  However, China is still a laggard in AI talent, diversity of talent, and economic digitalization compared to the United States. [2] Chinese AI firms are also banned from purchasing American advanced chips, resulting in enormous challenges for China to catch up with the United States in the short run.

Political and economic elites in advanced countries and China are embracing AI technologies in value creation. They are interested in opportunities created by AI development but are also concerned about risks as AI could intervene in privacy and national security. However, the era of AI is inevitable, and fast-runner countries have accumulated advantages, maybe of a decisive nature, over latecomers. The more critical challenge is thus to reduce the global technology and then development gap generated by the rise of AI. Our human civilization depends on elite coordination capacity of the global leaders with the elites from different countries collaborating to manage the massive value-creation model of AI.

Shi Shuo

Post-doctoral fellow, 

Fudan Development Institute, 

Fudan University

Ouyang Hanzhen

Post-doctoral fellow, 

School of Management, 

Fudan University