It seems a bit strange. This isn’t like nuclear weapons researchers in the 1940s, where only a small group had the knowledge to build the bomb. There are a LOT of AI researchers out there, and it’s more a battle of resources rather than rare knowledge at this point, it seems.
There are many researchers, but a limited number with the ability to make the revolutionary leaps necessary. To take your analogy: there were many physicists who knew an atomic bomb was possible, and many who even attempted it, but the Manhattan Project was the first to succeed through a combination of the right people and the right resources.
But AI researchers are one of the resources currently needed! Even though there are lots of them, it's undeniable that if half of the best 1000 AI researchers in either US or China were to move to the other country it would be a massive boon to AI research in the country they moved to and have a negative impact on AI research in the country they left, even though it wouldn't destroy the scene in that country.
