Jan Krikke

The Predictive State shows how China is turning artificial intelligence into governance infrastructure-and redefining how power works in the AI century. While much of the world debates artificial intelligence as a tool, China is building something far more consequential: a system in which intelligence is embedded directly into the infrastructure of society. In The Predictive State, Jan Krikke reveals how data, algorithms, and institutions are being integrated into continuous feedback loops that allow governments to act not only on events, but on the conditions that produce them.
The result is a new model of state capacity-one that anticipates, adapts, and intervenes in real time. This book moves beyond the familiar narrative of an "AI race." It shows that the real competition is not just about technological superiority, but about how intelligence itself is organized. As AI becomes infrastructure, the stakes change. Power will no longer depend only on who builds the best models, but on who designs the systems that govern their use.