Challenges and Opportunities in China
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Challenges and Opportunities of AI in China
While some see China’s intensive video surveillance as a realization of George Orwell’s bleak vision of the future in “1984”, others argue that China is a safer place as crimes are quickly detected due to these measures.
I, too, am concerned with the question of the benefits and harms of the use of artificial intelligence in public administration in China. In this blog post, I report on my experiences and observations on my recent trip to China.
Travel preparations with hurdles
I reactivated my WeChat account to prepare for my trip. This turned out to be more complicated than I had expected. Only after repeated attempts and several hours of effort did I manage to reactivate my WeChat account with the help of a WeChat friend from Taiwan.
This automatically sets up the WeChat payment service Weixin Pay. I could link it to my Mastercard after scanning my passport and approving a photo using my cell phone camera. I thought to myself: now the public authorities can track my payment activities if they are interested.
My experience with digital payment systems in China
However, WeChat payment did not work in China and the alternative Alipay also failed to verify my credit cards. However, I did meet Germans who had success with Alipay. My attempts to communicate with my credit card processors didn’t change anything.
To my relief, I realized that cash is usually accepted after all and that I could pay online for the high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai with a foreign credit card. But the locals pay for everything with their phones.
Political moods in China
In personal interactions, my Chinese conversation partners also proved to be critical of the government. As long as people are talking and not typing virtually, they are relaxed. I mainly encountered a pragmatic attitude.
From a transactional analysis perspective, they are treated like children by the authorities.
However, they did not care much as long as they feel safe and can pursue their economic activities. My current view on this: The trend towards personal surveillance will continue despite attempts at regulation, and not just in China. More cameras are being used every year:
- Many installed cameras by public administrations, businesses, and homeowners.
- In addition, billions of cell phone cameras and big data analysis possibilities worldwide can monitor a large part of our lives.
The power of surveillance: AI, resistance and political stability
Whether in democracies, autocracies, or hybrid systems – those in political power have instruments in their hands that they can use to either benevolently or to maintain power. It is usually a combination. What seems most problematic to me is that potential resistance can be nipped in the bud. The more benevolent a system of rule is, the less resistance there will be.
Using AI, an autocratic government can protect itself almost to the point of unassailability. However, history has proven that a lot of power corrupts. The greater the differences in power and income, the stronger the resistance.
AI in different leadership systems
Even the most powerful autocrats are getting older and younger people are taking over their positions. These changes are often accompanied by power struggles and thus at least temporary destabilization. AI is a new and significant aspect of the leadership system, but not the only relevant one. Other aspects are e.g:
- Collective benefit maximization and suffering minimization for all relevant stakeholders including minorities. If an authoritarian or democratic regime achieves sustainably good results in this respect, it has a better chance of remaining in office.
- Intelligence and education of leaders and those being led
- Beliefs of leaders and those being led (e.g. “only the collective counts” or “it’s safer with us”)
- The legal and executive system
- Incentive systems and social stratification
I also wanted to use my trip to China to further develop my views on the following 2 questions in particular:
1. Is democracy always the best form of government?
I remain a supporter of democracy, while at the same time maintaining the view that sometimes intelligent, benevolent autocrats can achieve better results than bad democratically legitimized governments. Over the past three decades, China has achieved amazing results in terms of prosperity, innovation, and security, for example.
My youthful conviction that democratic systems are economically superior to autocratic ones has long been called into question by China’s one-party system. On average, however, intelligent and benevolent parties come into government more often in democracies. Above all, problematic undesirable developments can be prevented more easily and quickly.
2. What are the benefits and harms of the new surveillance possibilities offered by AI?
It is strange for me to see cameras even on forest paths in the Wudang Mountains. At the same time, I have rarely felt as safe at night in cities with millions of inhabitants as I do in China. In addition to security, efficiency is also a strong argument in favor of biometric recognition methods.
I have been used to the idea for years that we are heading towards a transparent world. We are already ensuring that with our smartphones, Apple watches, etc. If we live in a society in which individual freedom and uniqueness are accepted within the harmful limits of others, transparency has little to threaten me.
But that brings us back to question 1: if my data is being used by government agencies to maintain power or execute ideological -isms, then it may already be too late.
Regulation with a sense of proportion
Unfortunately, we know that even liberal democracies can become dictatorships. In recent years, in particular, there have been ominous developments in various Western countries where attempts have been made to weaken democracies through violence or manipulation.
And we have also seen how quickly countries have become involved in wars. I therefore believe that regulation with a sense of proportion is necessary, especially when it comes to the use and storage of collected data.
A summary of my learning journey
For me, this learning journey was not about judging in the sense of right and wrong, but about interpreting developments in the context of history, culture, population density, religion, etc. I took one final inspiration from a leadership outcome that with me: China shows that switching to e-mobility and attractive public transportation is possible. Why are we going the other way again with combustion engines?
Mag. Gunther Fürstberger
CEO | MDI Management Development International
Gunther Fürstberger is a management trainer, author and CEO of Metaforum and MDI – a global consulting company providing solutions for leadership development. His main interest is to make the world a better place through excellent leadership. He has worked for clients including ABB, Abbvie, Boehringer Ingelheim, DHL, Hornbach, PWC and Swarovski. His core competence is leadership in digital transformation. He gained his own leadership experience as HR Manager of McDonald’s Central Europe/Central Asia. At the age of 20 he already started working as a trainer.
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