The Munich Security Conference generated a lot of heat but little progress on problems posed by artificial intelligence and how it should be regulated. Countries everywhere need to delicately balance tech development with regulation and navigate the fine line between inevitable competition and indispensable cooperation.

Artificial intelligence is in its early stage, so it’s hard to accurately predict all its risks and benefits. But a new wave of AI is rapidly approaching. No one can afford to ignore the huge potential benefits of this technology and no one can afford to fall behind in international competition.

The U.S. technology embargo has only energized Chinese scientists and engineers to create domestic alternatives. But it also hampers global innovation and will breed a variety of different — likely incompatible — technological systems and standards. This is a nightmare.

New regulation on cross-border data to be released by cyberspace authorities is a bold innovation that will spur further breakthroughs in management and create a new balance between development and security interests.

China’s internet regulations and perceived willingness to mobilize its domestic tech industry for espionage have led to preventative measures being taken by the U.S. in the form of bans and sanctions against Chinese tech.

The debate over the difference between tactics and strategy is as rich as it is enduring. In his seminal 1996 article in the Harvard Business Review, Harvard’s Michael Porter tackled this issue head on. While his focus was business, his arguments can be applied much more broadly – including to today’s Sino-American rivalry.

The rapid developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) present a multitude of challenges that demand regulatory attention. And if the U.S. and China can’t reconcile some of their differences on AI regulation and safety, the whole world will suffer.

US President Joe Biden’s recent executive order restricting American investments in Chinese semiconductors, microelectronics, quantum information technology, and artificial intelligence marks another escalation in the Sino-American tech war. In the context of the two superpowers’ intensifying geopolitical rivalry, the chances that this conflict will be resolved anytime soon are virtually zero, to the detriment of the global economy.

New investment restrictions from the Biden administration will serve to stimulate China’s research and development efforts. In the long run, the measures could also weaken the United States’ dominant position in the global high-tech industry by stimulating substitution in the industrial chain.

An executive order issued recently by U.S. President Joe Biden to restrict outbound investment will have many unintended negative consequences. Other countries will need a healthy dose of vigilance regarding America’s duality and changeability, as the U.S. moral position is undermined.