AI fear or China panic?
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A worker gets a robot ready for demonstration at a booth for leading Chinese commercial humanoid robotics firm Unitree Robotics during the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China, on July 18, 2026.
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Visitors walk past a display depicting artificial intelligence and a human hand at the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing on Monday, June 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
THE EDITOR, Madam:
If it were not so pathetic and dangerous in equal measure, it would be side-splittingly funny.
The bog-eyed, empathy-devoid, marvellously immature, greedy and stupid tech-billionaire “geniuses” have, for years, been feeding the gullible a vision of a robotic future where we are all rich, there is no need to work, AI has solved everything from making coffee to being your girlfriend, and we will be hopping off to Mars to pick up a pint of milk.
Never mind that out-of-control technology and AI have been the stuff of dystopian nightmares for many decades. They have already proven to be dangerous while retaining the adolescent stupidity and lack of empathy of their developers.
The tech bros have promised the earth while polluting it with their data centres. They have promised wealth for all while enriching themselves beyond imagination. They have played the system, circulated money, conned investors, and led the legacy media by the nose.
Suddenly, the narrative has changed. AI is going to kill us, and we need regulation.
Really?
The reality of AI has not altered.
What has altered is that China has won, hands down.
China won because of low costs and open-source development. It won because it was forced into greater efficiency after being locked out by the United States. Trump’s policy of expelling Chinese technology developers also created a new pool of top talent for China’s AI industry.
So, yes, now the playground bullies and rich boys want Mama to step in.
Funny, huh?
Amanda Baker
Edinburgh