Kai-Fu Lee is the Chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures that manages a 2 billion dollar dual currency investment fund with a focus on developing the next generation of Chinese high-tech companies. He is the former President of Google China and the founder of what is now called Microsoft Research Asia, an institute that trained many of the AI leaders in China, including CTOs or AI execs at Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba, Lenovo, and Huawei. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine. He is the author of seven best-selling books in Chinese, and most recently the New York Times best seller called AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order. This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ48rP_Rs4g

Audio: https://lexfridman.com/kai-fu-lee

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Outline:

0:00 – Introduction

1:26 – Chinese soul

4:28 – Difference between cultures of AI engineering

6:39 – Role of data in near-term impact of AI

8:37 – Tesla Autopilot approach

11:56 – Microsoft, Google, Apple and Silicon Valley cultures

24:22 – Entrepreneurship in China

38:51 – Impact of AI on jobs

44:58 – Andrew Yang and UBI

48:38 – Jobs that can’t be automated

56:20 – Role for governments

58:30 – Cold War and the arms race metaphor

1:04:50 – Freedom of speech & different value systems in China & US

1:07:37 – Privacy challenges

1:12:27 – Heart and soul of a business

1:14:00 – Facing mortality

1:18:46 – Hard work and balance

1:22:12 – Advice to entrepreneurs

1:25:38 – First question for an AGI system