The wrong sort of race: a rant.

The scholarly Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, discussing the increasing economic importance of artificial intelligence, says:

It [Chinese policy] calls for the output of 100,000 robots annually within three years, with the open intent of leapfrogging the US in a robotic arms race.

Far be it from me to criticise China's economic ambitions, but surely, if someone was trying to leapfrog something, wouldn't it be much more effective to do it in a robotic legs race?

Just asking.


Girls playing leapfrog in France, 1932

Word To Use Today: leapfrog. Leap comes from the Old English hlēapan; frog comes from the Old English frogga.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes for The Telegraph newspaper.