1: Chips and Chatbots

The US and China are locked in a race to dominate the world of Artificial Intelligence - who has the edge?

While the US and the USSR fought the Cold War in the second half of the 20th Century. In the first half of the 21st Century, the US now finds itself in a different kind of war with a different adversary - China. But this battle for supremacy is no longer being fought out via a nuclear arms race, but instead, a desire to dominate technology.

It’s a fight being realised in research labs, universities campuses, and the offices of cutting-edge start-ups - watched-over by leaders of some of the world’s richest companies, and the highest level of government.

In this series, Misha Glenny explores some of the key areas of this rivalry - from AI to robotics to satellites and explains how it's going to impact all our lives.

It’s a global contest which is consuming vast resources, both physical and intellectual, and costing trillions of dollars as the modern-day super powers race to control the world.

In episode one, Misha looks at the race to control what many see as the definitive technology of our age - predicted to change our lives in a myriad of ways: Artificial Intelligence.

Presenter: Misha Glenny
Producer: Ben Carter
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Studio mix: James Beard
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown