The Real Cost of the AI Race With China: American Workers Left Behind

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian defended the country's artificial intelligence development this week, framing it as the result of "greater self-reliance and strength" rather than theft. The comment came after White House officials accused a Chinese startup of improperly accessing Anthropic's latest AI model and circumventing restrictions on advanced Nvidia chips.

On its surface, this is a story about geopolitical competition and intellectual property. But look closer, and you'll see something more immediate: a race that's being run on American workers' backs.

What's Actually Happening

The U.S. and China are in a genuine competition over artificial intelligence dominance. That competition has real stakes, for national security, for economic power, for the future shape of technology. But here's what gets lost in the headline: while policymakers in both countries race ahead, American workers are watching automation accelerate with almost no safety net in sight.

The restrictions the White House is imposing on chip exports to China are part of a broader strategy to maintain American technological advantage. That's defensible. But the strategy stops there. It restricts China's access to tools. It doesn't prepare American workers for what comes next.

The Missing Piece

The Common Good Party's position on China is clear: we need to see China as both competitor and necessary partner. We reject the false choice between Cold War confrontation and naive accommodation. That means we can restrict technology transfer while still being honest about what we owe our own people.

Right now, 30% of hours worked could be automated by 2030. Only 24% of displaced workers receive any retraining. Denmark, a country a fraction of our size, spends 2% of its GDP on active labor market policies to help workers transition. The United States spends 0.1%. We're less than a tenth as committed to helping our own people adapt.

We can win the AI race with China. But not if we leave millions of American workers unprepared for the jobs that come after automation. Not if we compete on chips while ignoring the humans those chips are supposed to serve.

Our plan is different because it starts with workers, not just technology. That means real investment in retraining programs that actually work, wage insurance for workers displaced by automation, and a commitment to make sure the wealth created by AI benefits the people who built it, not just the shareholders who own it.

You can read the full story at The Hill.