Microsoft President Brad Smith warned that Chinese research organizations and companies could become ChatGPT’s main competitors in the development of productive artificial intelligence. In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Smith said that China will not lag behind in the innovation race and will become a key player in the field of productive artificial intelligence.

Smith selected three organizations that are leaders in this technology: OpenAI with Microsoft, Google and the Beijing Artificial Intelligence Academy. He said the competition for productive AI innovation is “highly competitive,” and the gap between leading organizations is almost always measured in months, not years.

The generative artificial intelligence, the technology behind ChatGPT, is capable of creating text and images at human-like levels of complexity. However, there are concerns that the technology could displace employees by automating many jobs and could be used to spread misinformation, copyright infringement, privacy violations and confidential information leaks.

Smith believes the solution to such problems is not to stop innovating, but to use and improve existing products. Citing cyber attacks as an example, he says that like other technologies, artificial intelligence can be both a tool and a weapon.

Smith also highlighted how technology can solve one of the biggest challenges facing Asia – labor shortages. He said the working population should support more people who are retiring and who depend on the economic growth of working people. Therefore, there is a need to find new sources for labor productivity growth.

Smith believes that this is the area where we can overcome the adversaries of the world’s democracies, if the best minds of the people can be combined with the best technologies. He also said that Microsoft is already using artificial intelligence to detect and stop new cyberattacks in real time. They also use artificial intelligence to detect foreign governments’ cyber-influence operations and disinformation campaigns.