China has warned against what it described as “threat narratives” surrounding artificial intelligence and called for global cooperation on AI governance amid growing concerns over the risks posed by rapid development of the technology. According to the BBC, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday that “narratives of……
China has warned against what it described as “threat narratives” surrounding artificial intelligence and called for global cooperation on AI governance amid growing concerns over the risks posed by rapid development of the technology.
According to the BBC, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday that “narratives of threat, confrontation, and malicious competition serve only to disrupt the process of global AI governance and are not in anyone’s interest”.
“All parties should work together to advance AI in a manner that is open, inclusive, beneficial to all, and oriented toward the good,” he added.
Guo’s comments followed calls from Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei for a slowdown in AI development, although he argued that safeguards should be strengthened without allowing China to gain an advantage in the global AI race.
The comments come as leading figures in the US AI industry have issued increasingly serious warnings about the potential dangers of advanced AI, with some raising concerns that uncontrolled development could pose an existential threat to humanity.
US President Donald Trump, however, has maintained that his priority is ensuring the United States remains ahead of China in AI development.
The contrasting positions highlight the difficulty of reaching agreement between the world’s two leading AI powers.
Chang Jun Yan, an assistant professor with the military studies programme at Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said an agreement between the US and China to regulate AI development was “next to impossible”.
“As part of each state’s core national security interests, cooperation in taking things slower and more safely in relation to AI, is very, very unlikely,” she said.
AI has become a central part of the strategic rivalry between the US and China, with both countries competing for an advantage in advanced technology.
Despite US restrictions on exports of critical chips to China, Chinese AI development has continued to expand, supported by open-source technology and government backing.
Many experts believe the US remains ahead, while Chinese companies are seeking to close the gap as they face difficulties raising the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in American AI firms.
Beijing has also acknowledged the risks associated with AI. Chinese security minister Chen Yixin said China must “balance development and security” while improving relevant laws and ethical guidelines and strengthening risk prevention to “safeguard the interests of the people and national security”.
Chen also warned about the potential use of AI by “hostile forces”, including foreign intelligence agencies, and called for international cooperation.
Kenton Thibaut, a senior resident China fellow at the Atlantic Council, said there were “strong signals that Washington and Beijing share an understanding of frontier risks”.
She argued that China had “technical reasons” to cooperate with the US, as its developers could gain insight into how AI models are deployed outside China and identify potential vulnerabilities.
China established the World AI Cooperation Organisation in July as part of efforts to influence global AI governance. Chinese President Xi Jinping also proposed the creation of a community for open-source AI while speaking at the BRICS summit in India on Sunday.
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The debate has intensified in the US following comments by former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxson, who warned last week that “there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future” if the current pace of AI development continues.
Since then, industry leaders including Amodei have called for slower development and stronger regulation.
“We need ways to ensure that alignment and safety techniques stay ahead of progress in model capabilities,” OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman wrote on X on Monday.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella echoed the concerns, saying AI development “cannot be controlled by a handful of entities”.
Trump, however, has continued to downplay the risks while stressing the importance of US leadership, saying he wanted America to maintain its advantage over China “because whoever wins AI, wins”.
Coxson told the BBC that there needed to be “some sort of coordinated slowdown with China, if we’re going to avoid a race at an international scale”.
The issue could feature in discussions between Trump and Xi as the US president prepares to host the Chinese leader at the White House next week. The South China Morning Post reported that AI is among the issues the two sides are seeking to include on the agenda.
The stakes remain high as Washington and Beijing compete for dominance in a technology that could shape the global economy and security landscape.
“If China establishes a durable lead in frontier AI, this will not be viewed in Washington as losing a technology race,” said Chasen Nevett, managing director at Hong Kong-based Forani Investments.
“It will be viewed as losing part of the strategic infrastructure of the next industrial era.”
