American and Chinese officials have started talks to create a notification framework for artificial intelligence incidents that threaten national security. The framework is called the US China AI Dialogue. Representatives from both countries will meet again to discuss the technology and try to align on common goals and threats. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the initiative.
Bessent spoke to reporters on Sunday. He emphasized the importance of transparency between the top two AI powers in the world. He compared the cross border activity to other major international matters. These discussions resumed after picking up from where they left off following US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing in May.
Public safety concerns about artificial intelligence have grown significantly since May. Security incidents over the summer demonstrated the capabilities of frontier models. OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face, highlighting how industry safeguards failed to keep pace. Fears escalated earlier this month when Anthropic employees warned that AI could wipe out humanity.
Leaders of the biggest frontier laboratories have called for a slowdown in development. These figures include OpenAI chief Sam Altman, Anthropic chief Dario Amodei, and Elon Musk. They want time to set safety standards. Amodei published an essay suggesting steps for laboratories and governments to pace development. He asked for government assistance in establishing international coordination, including with the Chinese Communist Party.
President Trump has largely brushed off calls for a slowdown. This comes despite growing bipartisan support for regulating the industry. His administration argues that the government already has sufficient criminal and regulatory power over developers. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang agreed with this stance during a weekend interview with CBS News. Huang noted that AI firms are already subject to cybersecurity and damage liability laws. He stated that existing laws should apply first and warned against doomsday narratives relieving firms of current obligations.
Trump stated that any development slowdown could cede the US lead in the technology to China. He emphasized the stakes by declaring that whoever wins AI wins the whole race. David Sacks, the chief science advisor to Trump, previously warned that China is very unlikely to join a global agreement on pacing the technology.
Thomas Wolf is the cofounder of Hugging Face, an open-source AI platform that Nvidia recently agreed to buy. Wolf questioned whether the US can build global cooperation while explicitly trying to widen its own lead. He wrote on X that such an approach is a counterproductive way to start the conversation.
The US currently tries to temper China’s advance in AI through export restrictions. The US restricts exports of advanced chips and chipmaking technology to China. Bessent confirmed that officials did not discuss these US export controls during the weekend meetings. The meetings also featured trade discussions and were described as very successful. The talks occurred ahead of a visit to Washington this week by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Representatives from both nations are scheduled to meet again to continue discussing the technology and attempt to align on common goals and threats.
