China becomes wary of US AI development slowdown, intensifying competition for supremacy

[Beijing Current Affairs] After the leaders of American artificial intelligence (AI) companies advocated slowing down the development of cutting-edge AI for safety reasons, the Chinese government and media are increasingly concerned that this is an attempt to slow down China's AI development. Ahead of the US-China summit expected on the 24th, exchanges over AI have intensified.

Dario Amodei, CEO of the American AI startup Anthropic, advocated on his blog to slow down the speed of AI development, citing concerns about AI going "out of control." Open AI CEO Sam Altman and American businessman Elon Musk also agreed.

On the 13th, the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, the Global Times, criticized Amodei's comments as a "Cold War tactic", saying he had also mentioned tightening regulations on semiconductors for China. At a press conference on the 14th, Chinese Foreign Ministry Deputy Press Secretary Guo Jiakun also criticized the move as ``spreading threat theory and inciting conflict and malicious competition.''

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities are not downplaying the risks of AI. Minister of National Security Chen Yixin wrote an article for a government magazine on the 13th, calling for stronger countermeasures by listing "six risks" including the impact on the political system, cyberattacks, and information leaks. Although the United States and China agree on the importance of ensuring security, the battle for AI supremacy is becoming more acute.