Xi Jinping and Donald Trump are discussing AI alongside trade and broader strategic issues, with Xi calling for human control of the technology as the US-China AI race intensifies.
Commencing high-stakes negotiations with US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to hold bilateral talks at the White House before a state dinner later in the evening. Xi’s visit marks his first trip to Washington in more than a decade, as the two leaders seek to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies over trade, technology and other strategic issues.
These talks come shortly after a slew of warnings raised by AI researchers about the rapid development of increasingly powerful systems. Addressing the issue, Xi stressed that AI development must remain under human control and should always be used for the benefit of people. He further said that China and the US have emerged as global leaders in AI and therefore carry an “unparalleled responsibility” for how the technology develops in the future.
Xi calls for healthy competition between US and China
Speaking about the competition between the US and China, Xi said that the rivalry should be a healthy one and should be kept within bounds. He further noted that Beijing was ready to increase cooperation with Washington on tackling illegal drugs and called for stronger coordination between the two militaries, including mechanisms for crisis communication and prevention.
Trump had also previously signalled that the visit would include discussions on pressing issues concerning security, technology and “superintelligence.”
More from TechDiscussions on Superintelligence
Trump has now resorted to calling artificial intelligence “superintelligence.” In a Truth Social post before the talks, he said the technology would be a major topic of discussion but indicated that he was not in favour of introducing new restrictions.
He said, “Super Intelligence (SI) will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is,” Trump wrote. “That is China’s position also.”
The two countries are locked in an intense technological race over advanced chips, computing infrastructure and AI development. The discussions come after growing calls from some of the world’s leading AI executives to slow the pace of development over concerns about the risks posed by increasingly powerful systems. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for the industry to “pace the frontier,” while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk have also backed calls for a more cautious approach.
Reports suggest that over the course of Xi’s three-day visit, the two leaders are expected to discuss Taiwan, export controls, rare earth minerals and the war in Iran, alongside trade and technology issues.
