{
  "id": 313079,
  "title": "The Future, Made in China",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/03/the-future-made-in-china",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-03T10:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The New Yorker",
    "slug": "the-new-yorker",
    "url": "https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/08/10/the-future-made-in-china"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Over a recent breakfast, Lee, a man with rimless glasses and a white polo shirt, spoke with a sense of hopeful curiosity about the future. Born in Taiwan in 1961, he pursued a career by chasing opportunities, earning a computer science degree from Columbia and later studying artificial intelligence at Carnegie Mellon. Lee's career included working at Apple, where he oversaw speech recognition, and later advising Bill Gates on a potential acquisition of Google. He eventually shifted to investing and focused on China and the United States. However, the two countries diverged not only on issues like trade, Taiwan, human rights, and espionage, but also on technology politics. The Obama Administration introduced an AI strategy in 2016, but it gained little attention amidst other events. In contrast, China released its own AI plan, outlining ambitious goals for industrial applications in various sectors by 2025 and aiming for world leadership by 2030. Lee expressed this approach as a \"all-hands-on-deck\" effort for national innovation. Over time, China moved away from looking to the West for future visions to favoring its own. Lee, with over fifty million social media followers, predicts a new world order where China will lead technology waves and influence the global geopolitical landscape. In July, a Chinese firm released an AI model comparable to American competitors at a lower cost, causing microchip stocks to plummet due to fears of China's technological dominance. China leads in various technological sectors, including drones, electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, solar cells, industrial robots, and medical clinical trials. Its shipbuilding capacity is roughly two hundred times that of the United States, raising concerns about potential military capabilities. While the U.S. grapples with its dominant position, China seeks to restore its historical eminence after centuries of perceived poverty. Chinese officials now see themselves as champions of the world, confident in their ability to compete with any nation. This newfound confidence has led to a decline in international approval ratings of the U.S., while China now ranks higher than the U.S. in global perceptions. The Chinese establishment, once divided, now views the U.S. as a declining empire, and Trump's administration hastened this decline by undermining alliances, institutions, and democratic credibility.",
  "summary": "Beijing is competing with the U.S. for tech supremacy. Who wins will have huge political implications.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}