Billionaire Ray Dalio tells Americans from stage at a New York event: The problem with AI companies in the US vs China is …

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio who predicted the 2008 recession has now cautioned America’s biggest artificial intelligence companies risk falling behind China because of their obsession with profitability.

According to a report by Business Insider, speaking at the Forbes Iconoclast conference in New York, Dalio contrasted the approaches of US firms like OpenAI and Anthropic with their Chinese rivals, saying Beijing views AI as a public utility rather than a profit engine. Dalio, who visited China in April, told the audience that the country sees AI as something every worker should have access to. “It’s like electricity and running water in that everyone should have it,” he said.

Dalio feels that China is funneling export revenues into AI development to drive productivity gains across industries, rather than focusing on subscription tiers or IPO valuations.

US vs China: Different priorities

Dalio believes that while American companies prepare for massive public listings and refine subscription models, the Chinese companies are prioritizing AI enablement which means that they are getting models into hands of as many workers as possible regardless of profitability.

Dalio emphasized that this mirrors China’s strategy in the electric vehicle sector, where local producers like BYD rapidly scaled and dominated global markets.

No fear of layoffs in China

In a panel following Dalio’s remarks, JPMorgan Chase executive Mary Callahan Erdoes noted that Chinese AI leaders and policymakers don’t share the US fear of job displacement. Instead, they focus on enabling workers with AI tools and preparing for the next industry where China can dominate.

“Robotics is basically China’s next EV,” she said, underscoring the country’s long‑term industrial strategy.

How China is quietly gaining from US AI boom

Recently, it was reported that China is emerging as an indirect beneficiary of America’s massive artificial intelligence spending surge, even as Washington steps up efforts to curb Chinese technology access, according to a report cited by the South China Morning Post. The US has close to $2 trillion worth of data centre projects planned or underway, with a large share of that spending tied to semiconductors, servers and other equipment critical to AI infrastructure.This wave of investment is fuelling a sharp rise in US imports of electronic goods, much of it coming from Asia. While Taiwan and South Korea remain the most visible beneficiaries due to their strength in advanced chips, China is also gaining through its entrenched role in regional supply chains.Even as direct exports from China to the US have declined amid tariffs and geopolitical tensions, its exports to other Asian economies have increased. This suggests China remains deeply embedded in Asia’s technology supply chains and continues to benefit from US demand indirectly. Components such as printed circuit boards and AI server assemblies, where China has strong manufacturing capabilities, are helping it stay relevant in the ecosystem.