On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters that “narratives of threats, confrontation and malicious competition only serve to undermine the process of global AI governance and serve no one’s interests.”
“All parties must work together to advance AI in an open, inclusive, beneficial and good-for-all manner,” he added.
His comments highlight the difficulties in reaching an agreement between the world’s two leading powers on artificial intelligence.
An agreement between the US and China to regulate the development of artificial intelligence is “virtually impossible”, says Chang Jun Yan, an assistant professor in the defense studies program at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
“Within the core national security interests of each state, cooperation on a slower, safer approach to AI is very, very unlikely.”
Artificial intelligence is now at the center of the US-China rivalry as the world’s two largest economies seek to gain an advantage in cutting-edge technologies. Despite US bans on the export of critical chips, Chinese innovation in artificial intelligence is expanding thanks to open-source technologies and support from Beijing.
Many experts believe the US is still ahead, and Chinese firms are trying to catch up as they try to capture the hundreds of billions of dollars that investors are pouring into US AI.
But Beijing, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping himself, has also talked about the risks posed by AI. China must “balance development and security” and enact and improve relevant laws and ethical standards and strengthen risk prevention to “protect the interests of the people and national security,” State Security Minister Chen Yixin wrote on Sunday.
He warned of the dangers of AI being used by “hostile forces” such as foreign intelligence, and called for international cooperation.
“There are strong indications that Washington and Beijing share an understanding of border risks,” Kenton Thibault, a senior fellow on China at the Atlantic Council, wrote recently.
She said China has a “technical reason” to work with the US because its developers will be able to see how their models are used outside China and discover and understand vulnerabilities.
In July, China created the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, which aims to shape global governance of artificial intelligence. Speaking at the BRICS summit in India on Sunday, Xi proposed creating a community for open-source artificial intelligence.
All this comes as calls for AI regulation grow louder in the US, especially after former anthropology researcher Jacob Coxon said last week that “there is a strong possibility that we could all die in the near future” if the current pace of development continues.
Since then, leading industry executives such as Dario Amodei have called for a slowdown and more regulation.
“We need ways to ensure that alignment and safety practices stay ahead of progress in model capabilities,” Open AI chief executive Sam Altman wrote in X on Monday, a move echoed by Microsoft chief Satya Nadella, who said AI developments “cannot be controlled by a handful of organizations.”
But US President Donald Trump played down the risks, saying he wants to maintain US leadership over China “because whoever wins in AI will win.”
The competition is tough.
Former Anthropic employee Coxon told the BBC that “some kind of coordinated slowdown with China is needed if we are to avoid a race on an international scale.”
As Trump prepares to host Xi Jinping at the White House next week, both sides are trying to get AI on the agenda, the South China Morning Post reports.
It is also likely to be part of talks between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, who are trying to meet ahead of next week’s summit, the newspaper reported. Deputy Prime Minister. He runs the agency that oversees the country’s economic planning, including the development of artificial intelligence.
While cooperation between the U.S. and China is important, experts say the stakes are high for both countries.
“If China establishes a strong lead in advanced artificial intelligence, it will not be viewed in Washington as a loss in the technology race,” says Chasen Nevett, managing director of Hong Kong-based firm Forani Investments.
“This will be seen as the loss of part of the strategic infrastructure of the next industrial age.”
Additional reporting by Osmond Chia