We're Screwed, Part Infinite

I'm reading "A.I. Superpowers China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order," by Kai-Fu Lee, and I can't decide if the following is a complete self-own or an omen that we are indeed doomed as a species:

From Page 15 of the book:

China's successful Internet entrepreneurs have risen to where they are by conquering the most cutthroat competitive environment on the planet. They live in a world where speed is essential, copying is an accepted practice, and competitors will stop at nothing to win a new market. Every day spent in China's startup scene is a trial by fire, like a day spent as a gladiator in the Coliseum. The battles are life or death, and your opponents have no scruples.

The only way to survive this battle is to constantly improve one's product but also to innovate on your business model and build a "moat" around your company. If one's only edge is a single novel idea, that idea will invariably be copied, your key employees will be poached, and you'll be driven out of business by VC-subsidized competitors. This rough-and-tumble environment makes a strong contrast to Silicon Valley, where copying is stigmatized and many companies are allowed to coast on the basis of one original idea or lucky break. . . The messy markets and dirty tricks of China's "copycat" era produced some questionable companies, but they also incubated a generation of the world's most nimble, savvy, and nose-to-the-grindstone entrepreneurs.

Emphasis in bold is mine.

First off, I don't think there's stigma in Silicon Valley against copying. Everything I've seen in the AI universe is built on shoving copyrighted material into the maws of the large language whatsises.

And you know when this competition ramps up, Silicon Valley will continue that race to the bottom, with scruples being the first thing dumped, if they have any at all anymore.

So if I'm a little less than enthusiastic about how much AI research is being applied, you'll have to forgive me and my scruples. I guess they're getting in the way, but I'm not giving them up for anything.

Do we want thought leaders who have no scruples or ethics? I don't. But I didn't want a president without scruples either, but the masses have brought us that.

Lee clearly regards at worst the lack of scruples as a strength, at best as an advantage to be exploited. If that's what China wants, then I guess China is ethically bankrupt. And the United States isn't all that far behind.