WASHINGTON (Reuters) -China is three to six months behind the United States in artificial intelligence, White house AI and crypto czar David Sacks said Tuesday at an event in Washington, warning that excess U.S. AI regulation could damage American innovation in the industry.

"China is not years and years behind us in AI. Maybe they're 3-6 months," said Sacks, speaking at the AWS summit in Washington. "It's a very close race."