Senator Ted Cruz warned on Monday that the U.S. race with China in artificial intelligence carries far greater consequences than simply determining which nation becomes the world’s leading tech innovator or economic power. More importantly, it will decide which country’s underlying moral and governing principles are embedded in the technology that shapes the future.
We can either win, driven by free markets, free speech, and innovation powered by human freedom, or China can win, powered by a socialist drive for social control, surveillance, and global domination.
AI needs to driven by free markets and free speech rather than by Chinese values of surveillance, espionage, propaganda, and social control.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 22, 2026
Don’t miss the latest Verdict: China Communists Funding Anti-AI Propaganda, plus Soros DAs Releasing Murderershttps://t.co/nLNKKJGEVc pic.twitter.com/wyNKv9iXjd
"China is well aware that it matters enormously who wins. Whoever wins that race, the result is going to be trillions and trillions of dollars of investment and millions of jobs. And so we want those jobs in America. We don't want those jobs in China. We want to have them here," the Texas Senator said on Monday's episode of the "Verdict with Ted Cruz." "But even more importantly, the result of that, whatever country wins, their values will suffuse AI."
"If China wins, if the world adopts Chinese AI, it means that that AI will embrace the Chinese values of surveillance, of espionage, of propaganda, of social control, social scores, using AI to try to control your life," Sen. Cruz said. "We would much rather have free market values of America govern AI, things like free speech, individual choice. Now look, tech companies will still be bad actors. Tech companies have been bad actors from almost the very beginning, but I'd much rather be taking on the excesses of tech companies rather than a communist government."
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America must trust the free market if it wants to win this tech race. Even concerns about tech companies acting badly become less serious in a truly competitive market, because good companies strive to outcompete bad ones, and the more competitive the market, the less influence the worst actors have. But once government gets involved in regulating and subsidizing tech companies, it could very well end up propping up one of the bad ones.
This race will be a test of America’s faith in market forces, and it should push Republicans to become more imaginative in how they defend markets, how they advance competition, and how they frame the argument for economic freedom. The future of our country as the world’s economic hegemon depends on it.
Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
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