China built AI differently than the US. Can India do the same?

"People in Silicon Valley and in China often have assumptions about each other. And their assumptions about each other are extremely self-centered."Our guest today is Afra Wang,  a fellow at the Centre for the Governance of AI and the writer behind Concurrent, a Substack that translates the tech culture of Silicon Valley and China from angels you wouldn’t typically expect. Afra understands both these tech ecosystems and is specific about what that self-centeredness looks like on both sides.Chinese entrepreneurs assume the American government has a heavy hand in pushing AI infrastructure, for example, the way Beijing does. This is just the tip of the iceberg of assumptions that both sides keep building on. Instead, in reality, there are specific ways in which AI development occurs in both places. Consider a leather factory in China using AI to scan cowhide in real time — it maps flaws, computes optimal cutting patterns, and eliminates waste. Silicon Valley has no equivalent because America doesn't have this sector. Afra sums it up: "You cannot map everything from Silicon Valley to China. You cannot map a lot of things from China to Silicon Valley." So, what’s similar and what’s different? What’s moving between these two competing systems? And what lessons does that have for India?Tune in.____This episode was produced by Vidhatri Rao and edited by Rajiv CN.___Zeus, the mascot of Zero Shot, was generated using AI. Everything else is made by humans, just like all articles, columns, newsletters, and other podcasts created by The Ken.Write to us at [email protected]. We are all ears!____Additional ResourcesChina OS vs. America OS (2026 version)https://afraw.substack.com/p/china-os-vs-america-os-2026-versionChinese Open Source: A Definitive Historyhttps://interconnected.blog/chinese-open-source-a-definitive-history/Chinese Tech Workers Are Starting to Train Their AI Doubles–and Pushing Backhttps://www.technologyreview.com/2026/04/20/1136149/chinese-tech-workers-ai-colleaguesJack Dorsey’s Block to Cut Nearly Half Its Workforce in AI Overhaul, Shares Surgehttps://www.reuters.com/business/blocks-fourth-quarter-profit-rises-announces-over-4000-job-cuts-2026-02-26/The Dark Forest Theory, Explainedhttps://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/dark-forest-theory-alien-lifeThe Dark Forest by Liu Cixinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_ForestUS bans sale of Huawei, ZTE tech amid security fears (2022)https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63764450