AI News Roundup June 16, 2025: Musk’s ‘Waifu’ Chatbot Scandal, China’s Billion-Dollar AI Push, Google’s $25B Power Play & More
Beijing’s Billion-Dollar AI Drive: China is pouring massive resources into AI as a matter of national strategy. A New York Times report notes that Beijing is taking an “industrial policy approach” to help its AI companies catch up to U.S. rivals intellinews.org. Indeed, China’s AI sector has grown explosively: the country’s pool of AI researchers surged from under 10,000 in 2015 to over 52,000 in 2024 english.news.cn. The government has fostered a thriving ecosystem of 400+ specialized “little giant” AI firms english.news.cn and even enlisted rural citizens – like women in remote Shaanxi province – to work as data annotators fueling AI models english.news.cn english.news.cn. President Xi’s aim is clear: make China an AI superpower.
