A recent story in The New York Times, about the growing gap between countries investing in AI and data centers and those that have none or have fallen behind, shows the stark difference between the world's ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots.’
The US far exceeds any other country in the number and power of data centers and AI development, with China still a distant second. All of Europe can be described as third. After that, investments by other countries fall off a cliff, as you can see in the accompanying chart, which I used Dall-E via ChatGPT 4.0 to create.
This means the US, for better or worse, is positioned to be the first to develop superintelligence and artificial general intelligence. Some in the tech world predict that we could see the former within 18 months.
Since Trump has done away with Biden’s guidelines and executive orders surrounding regulation of AI, it’s left to companies to regulate themselves, which makes me, for one, extremely uneasy. Unfettered AI, just like unfettered capitalism, has the potential to do great harm.
The decision by Trump to allow a company like Palantir to mine government databases and tie them together via the vehicle of DOGE, for instance, is extremely problematic. Despite the filing of a lawsuit to seek injunctive relief, the courts are unable to act swiftly enough to prevent the company from downloading our information and using it as they wish. That the company is run by Peter Thiel, the South African buddy of Elon Musk who funded JD Vance’s campaign, makes it that much more objectionable. Allegations that Palantir was involved in rigging election machines in swing states in 2024, after buying the company that makes them, raises a giant red flag about anything the company does.
Alarmingly, Palantir is also heavily involved in Defense Department projects and has the green light to literally turn its employees into military officers — lieutenant colonels.
We appear to be poised to learn the hard way just how much damage AI can do both in the public and private realm. While I expect great things, I also expect terrible ones to result from this lack of regulation. And if Trump gets his way, the bill pending in the Senate will keep language that precludes states from regulating AI at the state level. All in all it’s a recipe for dire results.
Meanwhile the only country that will keep up with the US, China, also has the potential to use it to impact security around the world. The argument that rapid AI development equates to dominance has real gravitas. I did a deep dive using AI research to see what its multitude of sources had to say about this trajectory. Here are some highlights:
To remain competitive, developed nations are investing heavily in AI R&D and infrastructure. The US is by far the leader in AI investment: in 2024, US private investment in AI reached $109 billion, nearly twelve times China’s $9.3 billion and 24 times the UK’s $4.5 billion.
• This massive spending reflects the frantic pace of innovation in Silicon Valley and beyond. While Europe and other developed regions cannot match US levels yet, they are ramping up efforts: for instance, the European Union’s new InvestAI initiative is a €200-billion program to scale up AI projects across Europe. (Telefónica, “EU’s AI Continent Action Plan: a turning point for digital sovereignty,” April 23, 2025)
• In parallel, the EU’s proposed Cloud and AI Development Act seeks to triple Europe’s data-center capacity in the coming years, a clear acknowledgment that more computing power on European soil is needed to stay in the game. (Same as above)
• Japan and South Korea are also pouring resources into tech R&D. Both consistently rank among the top nations for R&D intensity: South Korea spends 4.9% of GDP on R&D, Japan 3.3%, compared to 3.5% in the US. Japan has allocated over ¥10 trillion ($65 billion) to AI and chip development as part of its strategy to become an “AI powerhouse.” Such funding aims to ensure that Japanese industries remain at the cutting edge. Japan has already demonstrated prowess by building Fugaku, one of the world’s fastest supercomputers, to support AI and scientific computing. (ULPA, “The Rise of AI in Japan: A Complete Guide for 2025,” 2023)
• South Korea’s tech conglomerates and government are investing billions as well, Korean firms pledged roughly $49 billion to AI development by 2027, and the government is injecting nearly $7 billion into AI and AI-focused chip R&D in the next few years.
The upshot is the US will likely be the dominant force in AI for years to come, but other countries may be the examples to follow in how they regulate AI technologies, especially Europe. The EU has been the shining example in privacy and tech controls, especially when it comes to social media. I expect EU leadership will rein in international companies like Google, Microsoft and Meta while their home country allows them to run amok to see how fast they can spin out the next influential tech, all in the search for more dollars.
[links]
Korea Economic Institute of America, Timeline of South Korean Government AI Efforts
keia.org/the-peninsula/timeline-of-the-south-korean-governments-ai-efforts
South Korea to invest $7 billion in AI in bid to retain edge in chips
Reuters.com/technology/south-korea-invest-7-bln-ai-bid-retain-edge-chips-2024-04-09
