China has rejected a call to curb its artificial intelligence capabilities, after the chief executive of US company Anthropic warned that a Chinese lead in AI would pose a serious danger to America and the wider world.
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei urged the United States to maintain restrictions on the sale of cutting-edge AI chips and chipmaking equipment to China, arguing that the measures were needed to preserve America’s advantage.
Responding to a question about Mr Amodei’s essay, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said countries should co-operate on artificial intelligence rather than intensify competition.
“Fearmongering, confrontation and vicious competition will only disrupt the process of global AI governance which serves no one’s interest,” he said at a regular media conference on Monday.
Mr Amodei had called for a global slowdown in AI development, warning that a swarm of AI “agents” could be capable of taking over the internet within six to 12 months unless researchers agreed to act more cautiously.
He said achieving a global agreement would require co-operation with China, describing it as “the autocratic country with by far the most advanced AI capabilities”.
President Donald Trump played down calls for his administration to slow the development of AI on Sunday, saying the United States was ahead of China and that “whoever wins AI, wins”.
Mr Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to discuss AI governance, among other issues, at a meeting planned for September 24.
Chinese companies have developed powerful AI models that are often cheaper to use than advanced models produced by US companies. By some measures, the Chinese models are also considered just as capable.
Mr Xi has called for a global AI governance framework among countries in the Global South, while presenting China as a pioneer in building an open-source AI community.
