In China, any idea that dared to take flight would only crash back to the ground. The gravity of reality is too strong. —Liu Cixin, The Three Body Problem On August 26, China’s State Council, its cabinet, unveiled guidelines for the “AI Plus” initiative, and like all Chinese plans the scheme of things is a grand one. The size of it, even the massive national imagination behind it, the long view of time, and the strong arm of the mandarins of Beijing, it had it all. The