Two lectures by Kaiser Kuo at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh that were cancelled in March have been rescheduled for April 17 and 18, respectively. "
The 'DeepSeek Moment:' China and the Crisis of American Confidence" will take place on April 17 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at Baker Hall A53, Steinberg Auditorium (
map).
China's recent achievements in artificial intelligence, exemplified by DeepSeek's breakthrough LLM, represent more than just technological advancement - they signal a fundamental shift in global innovation dynamics. While Chinese companies have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in areas from EVs to social media to AI, U.S. responses continue to follow a predictable pattern: disbelief, anger, accusations of theft, and blame. This recurring cycle reveals both China's evolved capacity for coordinated technological development and deep-seated American anxieties about what this means for U.S. technological primacy. Drawing on his extensive experience analyzing both societies, Sinica Podcast host Kaiser Kuo explores how China's innovation ecosystem has matured, why its successes continue to surprise Western observers, and what this tells us about the structural, cultural, and epistemic barriers to understanding China's technological transformation. The talk examines how China's rise has challenged core assumptions about the relationship between political systems and innovation, market economies and state guidance, and ultimately, about American exceptionalism itself — and whether it can accommodate China's own brand of exceptionalism.
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China’s 'Second Generation Ethnic Policies' in Historical and Comparative Contexts, LIVE Podcast Recording" will run from 12:00 to 2:00 pm at the University of Pittsburgh, 252 Cathedral of Learning.
A weekly podcast about current affairs in China, hosted by Kaiser Kuo and featuring in-depth conversations about books, ideas, new research, intellectual currents, and cultural trends that can help us better understand what’s happening in China. A conversation between Sinica Podcast host and co-founder Kaiser Kuo and Professor Benno Weiner.
Kaiser Kuo is the host and co-founder of the Sinica Podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China that has run since April 2010 — for its first six years from Beijing, and since 2016 from the U.S. as part of SupChina. The show features in-depth conversations with scholars, journalists, diplomats, analysts, and others who work to better understand China in all its complexity.
