The US is losing its lead in AI episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 20, 2026 · 34 MIN

The US is losing its lead in AI

from The Vergecast · host The Verge

Since the beginning of the AI revolution, a few companies have claimed to be building the best and most powerful AI models. All of them were American. More recently, a few Chinese companies seem to have caught up, shipping models that are much cheaper and maybe also just as good. The Verge's Hayden Field and Lauren Feiner join the show to explain how China made so much progress, the threat that progress represents to US companies and the US government, and what might happen next. Further reading: ⁠China and the US are battling to become the world’s first AI superpower⁠ ⁠Trump’s Anthropic shutdown just made the case for non-American AI⁠ ⁠China delivers a one-two punch to America’s AI dominance⁠ Subscribe to The Verge for unlimited access to theverge.com, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, and our ad-free podcast feed. We love hearing from you! Email your questions and thoughts to [email protected] or call us at 866-VERGE11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jul 20, 2026

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

The US is losing its lead in AI

0:00 34:18

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of The Vergecast?

This episode is 34 minutes long.

When was this The Vergecast episode published?

This episode was published on July 20, 2026.

Can I download this The Vergecast episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!