{"id":166928,"date":"2025-10-05T14:33:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T14:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/china-is-starting-to-talk-about-ai-superintelligence-and-some-in-the-u-s-are-taking-notice-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T14:33:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T14:33:59","slug":"china-is-starting-to-talk-about-ai-superintelligence-and-some-in-the-u-s-are-taking-notice-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/china-is-starting-to-talk-about-ai-superintelligence-and-some-in-the-u-s-are-taking-notice-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"China is starting to talk about AI superintelligence, and some in the U.S. are taking notice – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Early last week in the Chinese tech hub of Hangzhou, a slick, larger-than-life video screen beamed out four words that would drive tech giant Alibaba\u2019s stock to historic levels<\/a> and signal a shift in China\u2019s approach to artificial intelligence<\/a>: \u201cRoadmap to Artificial Superintelligence.\u201d
During his 23-minute keynote address<\/a> at the flagship Alibaba Cloud conference, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu charted out a future featuring artificial general intelligence (AGI) and artificial superintelligence (ASI). These terms point to a theorized era in which AI becomes roughly as smart as humans (AGI) and then much, much smarter (ASI).
While these terms have been tossed around Silicon Valley for years, Wu\u2019s presentation was notable: Alibaba is now the first established Chinese tech giant to explicitly invoke AGI and ASI.
\u201cAchieving AGI \u2014 an intelligent system with general human-level cognition \u2014 now appears inevitable. Yet AGI is not the end of AI\u2019s development, but its beginning,\u201d Wu said<\/a>. \u201cIt will march toward ASI \u2014 intelligence beyond the human, capable of self-iteration and continuous evolution.\u201d
\u201cASI will drive exponential technological leaps, carrying us into an unprecedented age of intelligence,\u201d Wu said, highlighting ASI\u2019s ability to help cure diseases, discover cleaner sources of energy and even unlock interstellar travel.
The U.S. and China are the world\u2019s leading AI powers<\/a>, each with immense computing capabilities and top-tier researchers developing cutting-edge systems. Yet observers have framed the countries as having different approaches to AI, with perceptions that China focuses more on real-world AI applications<\/a>.
For example, commentators recently argued that Beijing is currently \u201cwinning the race for AI robots\u201d<\/a> against the U.S., as China is home to much of the world\u2019s most advanced robotics supply chains<\/a> and a growing network of robotics, or embodied AI,<\/a> labs.
\u201cThere\u2019s been some commentary in Western media recently about how the U.S. is missing the point by pushing for AGI, while China is focusing solely on applications,\u201d said Helen Toner, interim executive director of Georgetown\u2019s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. \u201cThis is wrong.\u201d
\u201cSome Chinese researchers and some parts of the Chinese government have been interested in AGI and superintelligence for a long time,\u201d Toner said, though she noted this view was primarily held by smaller startups like DeepSeek<\/a>.
Afra Wang, a researcher focusing on China\u2019s tech scene, said Alibaba\u2019s invocation of AGI and ASI was remarkable.
\u201cThis ASI narrative is definitely something new, especially among the biggest tech companies in China,\u201d she told NBC News.
Alibaba\u2019s \u201croadmap to artificial superintelligence\u201d seems to scramble mainstream perceptions. Any number of California techno-optimists, like Anthropic\u2019s Dario Amodei<\/a> or xAI\u2019s Elon Musk<\/a>, might have delivered Wu\u2019s speech, selling a technology-enabled utopia while largely sidestepping darker questions about how humanity would co-exist with or survive an era of digital superintelligence.
The concept of superintelligence has long been on the minds of<\/a> \u2014 if not explicitly guiding<\/a> \u2014 prominent American AI companies. For example, OpenAI released an article focused on the safe development<\/a> of superintelligent AI models in May 2023. \u201cNow is a good time to start thinking about the governance of superintelligence \u2014 future AI systems dramatically more capable than even AGI,\u201d the statement said.
The possibility of superintelligence is now even being acknowledged in Congress. On Monday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Ill., announced a draft bill<\/a> that would, among other actions, \u201cassist Congress in determining the potential for controlled AI systems to reach artificial superintelligence.\u201d
To some, ASI might seem like an outlandish concept when today\u2019s AI systems fail to understand<\/a> basic tennis rules, hallucinate or fabricate basic information<\/a>, or do not seem to actually comprehend<\/a> how the external world functions.
At the same time, AI systems continue to approach and sometimes surpass human capabilities in many domains, from driving cars safely<\/a> to winning international coding competitions<\/a>, leaving many experts <\/a>to say it\u2019s a matter of when<\/a>, not if, humans develop digital superintelligence.
As the idea of superintelligence gradually enters mainstream debates, many American politicians have announced<\/a> that the U.S. is in an AI race with China. The White House\u2019s current AI manifesto is titled \u201cWinning the AI Race: America\u2019s AI Action Plan,<\/a>\u201d while Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, proclaimed<\/a> that \u201cas a matter of economic security, as a matter of national security, America has to beat China in the AI race.\u201d
Yet charges of an AI race are muddied by a lack of an agreed end goal<\/a> and swirling definitions of AGI<\/a>. At worst, experts think an unfettered race toward AGI or ASI could lead to widespread catastrophe<\/a> or even the end of humanity<\/a>.
But there\u2019s also plenty of skepticism around talk of AGI and ASI and whether it\u2019s primarily for marketing purposes<\/a>.
Alibaba is one of China\u2019s largest tech companies<\/a>, known for providing powerful, free AI models \u2014 also called open-source models \u2014 for download. Alibaba\u2019s Qwen model series, a competitor to models like OpenAI\u2019s GPT-5 or Anthropic\u2019s Claude, is the most popular open-source AI system in the world<\/a>.
Wu announced a new series of Qwen models<\/a> in his speech last week, including a model that combines text, images, video and audio capabilities.
Many observers point out that narratives about a U.S.-China AI race and a resulting sprint to build AI infrastructure<\/a> serve AI investors by propping up company valuations<\/a> and increasing their soft power<\/a>. Alibaba\u2019s stock has soared<\/a> since Wu\u2019s speech last week, part of a larger $250 billion comeback this year<\/a> that has made it China\u2019s hottest AI company.
To unlock a powerful, superintelligent future, Wu predicted that large AI models will replace existing operating systems as the link between users, software and computational power. This future network of large AI models will run on cloud computing networks like Alibaba Cloud, he said.
Irene Zhang, a researcher on China\u2019s AI ecosystem and an editor of ChinaTalk<\/a>, noted the business undertones of Wu\u2019s announcement.
\u201cThis is a vision of AGI and ASI that\u2019s directly based on Alibaba\u2019s business model,\u201d she said.
\u201cAlibaba Cloud dominates China\u2019s cloud computing market, and its global market share is now bigger than Oracle\u2019s,\u201d she said. \u201cAlibaba\u2019s commercial strategy and its publicly stated views on ASI\/AGI are symbiotic.\u201d
Matt Sheehan, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, agreed.
\u201cASI is the ultimate frontier, as far as the discourse goes on AI,\u201d Sheehan said. \u201cIt\u2019s notable that Alibaba set this grandiose goal, but in reality, they\u2019re selling cloud services.\u201d
Jared Perlo is a writer and reporter at NBC News covering AI. He is currently supported by the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Profile news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeEarly last week in the Chinese tech hub of Hangzhou, a slick, larger-than-life video screen beamed out four words that would drive tech giant Alibaba\u2019s stock to historic levels and signal a shift in China\u2019s approach to artificial intelligence: \u201cRoadmap to Artificial Superintelligence.\u201dDuring his 23-minute keynote […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":166929,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}