智能之争，亦是文明之争 - The Battle of AI is Also a Battle of Civilizations [HSK 7]

Chinese Short Dialogue | 听中文会话 | 中国語会話を聴く

Behind AI lies the differing values and development paths of China and the US.

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《English Translation》

王明月: Master, Professor Zhu Songchun pointed out that the biggest obstacle to China's AI development is not a technical bottleneck but our blind following of the Silicon Valley narrative. It sounds sharp, but it also seems quite true.
陈智高: Indeed. Over the past decade, the Silicon Valley model that equates AI with 'big data, big computing power, and big models' has almost become the global default path. Whatever OpenAI and DeepMind talk about, we follow. But this path is not just a technological route; it is also a way to export discourse power.
王明月: I noticed that Professor Zhu mentioned a statistic: The market value of America's top three tech companies has already surpassed the entire Chinese stock market. Behind this capital narrative, there is actually a hidden form of technological hegemony.
陈智高: Exactly. And the first step of technological hegemony is discourse hegemony. They set standards, define the future, and even decide 'what intelligence really is.' Look, they claim that general AI must be built by stacking millions of GPUs — that's 'scale worship.' But do we really have to follow that path?
王明月: Ironically, many of our domestic policies and investments are actually centered around these 'Silicon Valley logics.' Even concerns about AI safety are following Hinton’s lead, as if whatever the US worries about, we should worry about too.
陈智高: This is just like the 'globalization narrative' back then. The US said 'the world is flat,' so the world handed over manufacturing to China. When they found it no longer advantageous, they immediately flipped the table, pushing for 'de-risking' and 'technological decoupling.' Discourse power is always a strategic resource.
王明月: That's why Professor Zhu emphasizes the need to construct our own AI narrative. He advocates for developing a technological path based on China's actual circumstances, avoiding being led by others' standards.
陈智高: Exactly. He is not against big models but against the illusion that 'there is only one path.' China needs to tell its own story — both the 'mind' in philosophy and the 'logic' in technology. This is not just a technological choice; it's a civilizational choice.