Keith Bradsher

It was also using artificial intelligence.

Cameras were taking lots of pictures of the finished car and comparing them in detail to a database of other cars that were viewed as very well put together.

and identifying if there were any flaws that needed to be corrected.

AI is doing quality control.

AI is involved in tracking practically every step in the process.

What you're seeing in China more than any other country is the adaptation of AI to manufacturing.

So other countries are no longer as automated.

In fact, Germany, Japan, the United States now have factories that are less automated, that have fewer robots than China.

China now has...

a higher number of robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers than any of those three countries.

China also is installing more factory robots each year now than the entire rest of the world combined.

The rise of advanced manufacturing in China is a remarkable story.

It's not just an economic story.

It's also an education story.

It's a culture story.

It's a demographic story.

You have to go back to the mid-2010s.

China had really already emerged as the world's number one manufacturing power.

But that wasn't all they wanted to do.

They didn't want to just be the manufacturing power that made the most things.