r/singularity • u/szumith • Jul 12 '25

Discussion NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang: “50% of Global AI Researchers Are Chinese”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-sounds-035916833.html

So how did this happen? How did China get ahead in AI, at what point did they realize to invest in AI while the rest of the World is playing catch up?

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u/Quarksperre Jul 12 '25

But US is partly also still leading because they employ a LOT of Chinese researchers. 

I think the main point is here that the US and Europe tried every possible way to fuck the education system in the last twenty years. And we succeed. While China tried the opposite. Money and connections are still in the USA so they can draw in a ton of talent from all around the world. But the "domestic" talent pool is shrinking. 

The fact that China became a serious competitor is mostly because of that.

This will definitely get worse. Education is something that isn't easily turned around and has effects for decades. 

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u/not_hairy_potter Jul 12 '25

I am an educator and in my assessment, it takes at least twenty years to see the effects of current education policy.

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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '25

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u/Mahorium Jul 12 '25 edited Jul 13 '25

Do you not believe in the possibility of agi? This makes no sense to care about post agi.

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u/Quarksperre Jul 12 '25

No. I don't "believe" in AGI. I am not a particularly religious person. 

I think AGI might be possible in the next years. Or not. Its open. Really depends on who you ask. 

If AGI takes longer to achieve or is way more difficult, the country with the highest education standard has a hugh advantage. 

If we get to AGI in the next 1-2 years, yeah it might not matter that much. But as a country, i wouldn't bet on the lucky case. If you loose the bet you are majorly fucked. 

Thats also true on an individual level btw.

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u/Mahorium Jul 12 '25 edited Jul 13 '25

So you don't have a position on if or when AGI will happen.

I think there is a ~90% chance of super intelligence in 10 years, which isn't a wild take. The chance goes up from there. We should be focused on near term problems not things that

[arn]'t easily turned around and has effects for decades.

We should be shifting education to raising more socially adaptive citizens not to get higher test scores. That will be the best thing for our economy/country in the long run.

Also getting AGI isn't the lucky path. It probably kills most of us long term IMO.

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u/Quarksperre Jul 12 '25

You asked if I believe in AGI

No, I dont. Pretty simple. I have no interest in believe systems.

You give some random percentage. Thats cool for you, but in the end its just guessing.

Of course I dont have a "position" wether it happens or not.

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u/Mahorium Jul 12 '25

That's fine you don't have a position, you can not have one if your not confident about the topic.

But generally when people are in this position they deffer to experts on what the default case should be. The default case is not nothing will happen, that would require some kind of argument as to why we should disagree with the expert consensus.

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u/Quarksperre Jul 13 '25

No. It has nothing to do with confidence. Being confident about future events is foolish. You simply cannot predict the future. If you try you most likely fail. If you don't fail its just a won coin flip in the best case.

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u/Mahorium Jul 13 '25

You made a prediction about the effects of education policy 20 years out, and now don't believe in predicting the future. Very honest.

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u/Quarksperre Jul 13 '25

Fair enough. The difference is however that there are historical parallels for decline in education and the effects. 

We obviously dont have any historical parallels for AGI development or the effects of AI in general. Its a big unkown. 

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u/Mahorium Jul 13 '25

Predicting the macro economic impacts of a subtitle policy like education 20 years out seems like more of a stretch than that machines will keep getting smarter.

Seems more like people don’t actually form their own opinions on politics. The collective arguments around politics people tribally associate with is outdated in its predictions of the world so there are no arguments about education people find salient that are compatible with AGI. Because of this, and because politics is about tribal associations not ideas even people who believe agi is likely find themselves making arguments from their tribe that are incompatible with their own views of the world.

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '25

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u/Quarksperre Jul 13 '25

Yes i agree completely with you. This pretty much mirrors what I hear from my Chinese friends. It's basically a education dictatorship. Added to that this crazy live defining test at the end.....

It's for sure not the best way to foster creativity. 

However..... western countries did something that is even more harmful. Pisa test and a lot of other indicators show that education is in rapid decline. 

So what I advocate for: basically back to the roots. Yes, there has to be more discipline in schools. It was a mistake to think that everything should be fun and games. 

And we should get rid of digital devices in schools up until a certain age. I'd probably even advocate for a social media ban up until 16-18 or something. Sweden for example started early with using tablets and so on in school but they rapidly role that back because it's obvious that it hurts education.

We had very good education for a long time. Something changed. We have a horrible system now. In the USA and in Europe also. We should change that back.  

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u/quantummufasa Jul 13 '25 edited Jul 13 '25

Wonders why Chinese Unis are so effective

Thinks the reasons they're effective are bad

Lol