US urged to follow China’s lead in treating data as an economic asset
As China deepens the commercialisation of its vast troves of data, the United States needs to develop its own national data strategy that treats data as an economic asset to better position itself to prevail in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, a key US congressional advisory body has said. In a report published on Tuesday, the US-China Economic and Security…
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) has urged the United States to replicate China's approach to treating data as a central economic asset. In a report released on Tuesday, the USCC cautioned that the US risks losing global leadership in setting data standards to China, granting Chinese firms an advantage in industries where data is crucial to development.
China designated data as a strategic asset in 2020, leading to the flourishing of its data economy through nationwide exchanges and pilot programs. China's top-down industrial policy approach, similar to its success in advanced manufacturing, fosters data sharing, trading, and third-party services like data valuation and financing.
The report noted that as AI developers worldwide rely on the open web for data to train advanced AI models, China's private data holdings are becoming increasingly valuable. The USCC warned that US firms aspiring to participate in China's data economy must navigate a strict data regime, with concerns over potential breaches of national security.
Written by urgent.news from Reuters Business via SCMP's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
