Perhaps you should pay attention to where the puck is going to be, rather than where it is currently. Lots of original ideas are coming out of Chinese AI research[1], denying this betrays some level of cope.
1. e.g. select any DeepSeek release, and read the accompanying paper
I'll pay attention to where the puck is because that is something I can observe, where it is going to be is anybody's guess. Lots of original ideas are coming out of Chinese AI research but there is also lots of junk. I think in the longer term they will have the advantage but right now that simply isn't the case.
Your 'cope' accusation has no place here, I have no dog in the race and do not need to cope with anything.
I will rephrase my statement and continue to stand by it: "Denying the volume of original AI research being done by China - a falsifiable metric - betrays some level of cope."
You seem to agree on the fact that China has surpassed the US. As for quality, I'll say expertise is a result of execution. At some point in time during off-shoring, the US had qualitatively better machinists that China, despite manufacturing volumes. That is no longer the case today - as they say, cream floats to the top, and that holds true for a pot or an industrial-sized vat.
1. e.g. select any DeepSeek release, and read the accompanying paper