SEPTEMBER 20: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks with the media after meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at JPMorgan Chase headquarters on September 20, 2026, in New York City. The meeting was expected to focus on economic issues, artificial intelligence security, trade and other matters. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/
WASHINGTON (TNND) —Against a backdrop of growing calls for the federal government to create safety regulations for rapidly advancing AI models, President Donald Trump has made his priority clear: outcompeting China. This stance has further raised the stakes of his upcoming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Against a backdrop of growing calls for the federal government to create safety regulations for rapidly advancing AI models, President Donald Trump has made his priority clear: outcompeting China. (TNND)
Trump administration officials have signaled they’d only be open to government involvement in the AI safety space if Beijing is, too, in equal measure.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed AI was discussed during pre-summit talks with his Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng, on Sunday.
“We want to open a communications line, an incident line, so that we have constant communications, especially in the event of some kind of an incident. And then we want to start discussing protocols for what our, so both sides can agree on what the leading AI dangers are, whether it’s uncontrollable agents, whether it’s non-state actors, and cyber non-state actors in bioweapons,” Bessent told CNBC.
Bessent said they formalized these talks as “the USA-China AI dialogues,” and planned to meet again in two months in China.
In a social media post Monday, Trump reiterated his view that warnings about AI posing a threat to humanity amounted to a “hoax.”
We are leading now over China, and everyone else, and I’m going to keep it that way! I’m not going to stifle Growth, of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution, or the Internet itself. We will be careful, and that’s why we have the Department of Justice and other Law Enforcement bodies that will rein things in if we have to, but I will only encourage AI or, SI (SUPER INTELLIGENCE)!” Trump said.
In a separate post last week, Trump said he would form an “AI Force” and appoint a new AI czar. It’s unclear what their responsibilities will include.
At the end of former President Barack Obama’s term, his administration issued a report titled “Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence” that included 23 recommendations to foster innovation and ensure safe use of what was, at the time, a novel concept to most Americans. Exactly one decade later, Obama warned that time for responsible government action is running out.
We have reached this point of what’s called recursive learning, where essentially, and we had anticipated this, but now we’re seeing it, the machines are starting to be able to teach themselves. They don’t have to wait for humans to start figuring things out,” Obama said during an event at Colgate University.
Obama said while he believes there’s a “non-zero chance” of a worst-case scenario threatening mankind, like ones described by some former employees of AI companies, he’s most concerned about AI being weaponized by bad actors.
“The more serious problem is, these models are getting powerful enough that if they get in the hands of bad humans, they can do bad things,” Obama said, giving examples of creating bioweapons or manipulating the stock market.
The former president said it’s imperative that the government steps in to regulate AI, that like pharmaceuticals and air travel, the AI industry cannot operate without sector-specific rules protecting public safety.
It is really important for us to have a competent government and a serious bipartisan conversation around this issue and we have to do it fast. And I would encourage voters to pay attention to this,” Obama said. “If somebody does not have a serious plan for how to deal with this, then they’re not meeting the moment and you should probably look for somebody else.
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