In a bid to manage the escalating rivalry in artificial intelligence (AI) between the U.S. and China, both nations are reportedly considering initiating official discussions on the matter.
Washington and Beijing are contemplating the inclusion of AI in the agenda for the potential mid-May summit in Beijing between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, reported the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. This move would mark the beginning of official U.S.-China engagement on AI under the Trump administration.
The proposed talks are intended to address the dangers posed by unpredictable AI models, autonomous weapons systems, and potential attacks by nonstate actors using advanced open-source technologies. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is reportedly leading the American side on the AI track, while Beijing has yet to assign its counterpart, according to the report.
Chinese vice finance minister Liao Min has been involved in preliminary discussions with Washington about establishing such a dialogue. Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told the publication about China's openness to discussions on mitigating AI-related risks.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Biden-Era Talks Saw Limited Progress
The U.S. and China had already opened formal AI talks under former President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping at a 2023 California summit, aiming to establish ongoing dialogue and ensure AI would not control nuclear launch decisions. In 2024, both countries agreed that humans, not AI, would retain authority over nuclear weapons use.
However, the talks produced limited progress because China placed its foreign ministry, rather than technical experts, in charge of negotiations, Georgetown scholar Rush Doshi, who led the talks under Biden, told WSJ. Doshi said that the U.S. should have pushed harder for deeper technical engagement.
US-China AI Tensions Intensify
The proposed discussions come in the wake of Chinese President Xi Jinping's call for increased efforts in research and innovation. Xi emphasized the importance of "original and disruptive innovation" in China amid escalating global tech rivalry with the U.S.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has been intensifying scrutiny over China's tech. In late April, the Trump administration accused China-linked groups of stealing U.S. AI technology on a large scale and warned it would step up enforcement against the unauthorized "distillation" of advanced AI models.
In early April, a bipartisan group introduced the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware (MATCH) Act to curb Beijing's access to semiconductor equipment, arguing that gaps exist because U.S. allies haven't fully aligned with American export controls, allowing China to continue exploiting the loopholes.
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