Beijing (AFP) – China and the United States “should work together to promote the development and governance of AI,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday. Cooperation on artificial intelligence was discussed by US President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping at talks in Beijing last week, both sides say, despite their countries’ fierce rivalry over the fast-evolving technology.
“The two heads of state held constructive discussions on AI-related issues and agreed to launch an intergovernmental dialogue on artificial intelligence,” Guo told a news briefing, confirming previous remarks by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. As major powers in the field, the countries should also work together “to ensure that AI better serves the progress of human civilization and the common well-being of the international community,” Guo added.
Analysts said before the summit that fears over autonomous AI weapons, cybersecurity, and the threat of new AI-designed bioweapons were mutual concerns for Xi and Trump. In 2024, Xi agreed with Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden that humans must remain in control of the decision to fire nuclear weapons. But with China set on narrowing the United States’ lead in the strategic sector, until now little further cooperation has followed.
The White House recently accused Chinese entities of “industrial-scale” efforts to steal US technology, while Beijing blocked the acquisition of a Chinese-founded AI agent tool by tech giant Meta. But at the same time, the AI cybersecurity threat has been highlighted by Mythos, a powerful new model that US startup Anthropic withheld from public release to stop it from being exploited by hackers.
Bessent told CNBC on Thursday that Washington and Beijing would set up a “protocol” on the path forward on AI, particularly “to make sure non-state actors don’t get a hold of these models.” The world’s “two AI superpowers are going to start talking,” Bessent said.
While details on what will be discussed are so far scarce, Sun Chenghao, a senior fellow at Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy, told AFP that “compared with 2024, the topics to be discussed this time might be broader.”
“The two sides could share some best practices and exchange experiences on how to address and manage” AI’s impact on society, for example on youth employment, he said. “Even though China and the United States are in competition in the field of AI, the impact of AI technologies on the entire world — and on all kinds of actors, whether states, societies, or businesses — is extremely significant.”
However, keeping thorny issues such as the export of high-end US chips that can train and power AI systems for separate meetings “may help create a better atmosphere for talks between the two sides,” Sun added.
© 2024 AFP
