Locking China all down on the artificial intelligence (AI) technology is "really wrong," Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and co-founder of Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, said Wednesday.

On the question of how the United States should approach the AI competition with China, there's one strain of thought that we need to lock it all down, and "I think that's really wrong," said Zuckerberg in an interview with Bloomberg.

The United States thrives on open and de-centralized innovation, he said. "That's the way our economy works, that how we build awesome stuff."

The Facebook co-founder also said that keeping the United States five or 10 years ahead of China in AI technology is not a "reasonable goal" that can be maintained.

"What I do think is a reasonable goal is maintaining a perpetual, like six-month or eight-month lead, by making sure that the American companies continue producing the best AI systems," he said, adding, "If the U.S. can maintain that advantage over time, that's a very big advantage."