Definition of the research and innovation field of "Artificial Intelligence" and approaches to determining quality

In the race for international leadership in the field of artificial intelligence, China has been in first place for years - both in terms of the number of AI research contributions and of citations. Since the publication of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 at the latest, this contradicts the general impression that the main AI innovations are currently coming from the USA rather than China, as well as the general assessment that German and European research is also making important contributions to the AI development. One reason for this divergence is the fact that AI is a very heterogeneous field of research and innovation that consists of different technologies, methods and applications. A standardized definition does not yet exist. However, adequate research field definitions are essential for country comparisons based on bibliometric and patent analyses. (...)