Opinion

STEVE FORBES: The AI Cold War has begun and America cannot afford to lose

Beijing deploys cheap energy and state subsidies to push open-weight AI models that can be downloaded and customized by foreign governments

By Steve Forbes Fox News

Published March 6, 2026 5:00am EST

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History teaches a simple lesson: the nation that sets the standards sets the future. In the 20th century, America wrote the rulebook for aviation, computing and finance. In the 21st, the decisive battleground is artificial intelligence. And make no mistake — Beijing intends to write the rules.

As everyone is now grasping, artificial intelligence will not be a niche technology. It will fundamentally reshape medicine, manufacturing, logistics, national defense and financial markets. It will create whole new industries. Analysts project trillions of dollars in economic value by decade’s end. For now, the United States remains the innovation leader. But leadership is not guaranteed — especially when the Chinese Communist Party is deploying cheap, coal-fired energy, massive state subsidies and underhanded tactics to close the gap.

Beijing’s strategy centers on so-called "open-weight" AI models — systems whose parameters are downloadable and customizable. These models are exportable by design.........

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