U.S. and China set AI 'super intelligence' dialogue ahead of summit
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington and Beijing will exchange best practices on testing advanced AI models, as Trump and Xi prepare to meet next week.
The dialogue
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that the United States and China should "harbor no illusions" about their differences as they work to contain the risks of artificial intelligence while competing at the same time. He spoke in prepared remarks to the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations in New York.
The two governments have set up a new dialogue mechanism on "super intelligence," or SI, aimed at guarding against "shared risks" and averting any "misunderstanding between our two systems." Under the mechanism, both sides will exchange best practices for testing advanced models before release and for keeping human judgement firmly in command of the technology, and are expected to alert each other to serious incidents involving SI models.
- Next Trump-Xi meetingNov. 18–19, Shenzhen
- Dialogue topicTesting advanced models before release
- Limit on AI advancementNone committed
Cooperation without limits
Neither government has so far made any commitment to limit the advancement of AI, and Bessent stopped short of such a commitment as Washington and Beijing remain in an intense race for global AI leadership. President Donald Trump said in a CBS interview released on Sunday: "I don't mind guardrails," adding that he did not want regulations to put the United States in "a deep second position" behind China, which he said had no such restrictions.
China's foreign ministry in September dismissed calls to slow down frontier models. The dialogue is therefore about managing shared risks, not about either side slowing its own development.
The summit next week
During Xi Jinping's September visit, Washington and Beijing agreed to launch an AI dialogue with a communications channel to help defuse serious incidents. The two leaders are expected to meet for the third time next week, with Bessent joining, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Meeting from November 18 to 19 in Shenzhen.
A fourth meeting is expected in December at the United States-hosted G20 summit in Miami, according to Reuters. The November meeting will advance the new dialogue on super intelligence, Bessent said.
The Nvidia shadow
Bessent's remarks made no mention of the controversy around Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, who faces a board investigation after admitting to an affair with a Chinese businesswoman whom United States intelligence officials suspect of espionage. His presence at the coming summit has been thrown into doubt.
China's ambassador Xie Feng said cooperation "may not resolve every challenge," but "none can be resolved without it." The summit will test whether the two sides can keep the AI channel open while the rivalry around chips and technology runs on.
