China and USA agree on dialogue on artificial intelligence

China and the USA want to set up a communication channel for incidents related to artificial intelligence. China's head of state Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump agreed on this at their meeting in Washington, as the White House announced. Chinese state media also reported a corresponding agreement.

Both countries want to have a regular dialogue about the risks and benefits associated with the technology. The next conversation should therefore take place in November at the latest. A statement from the White House also said that both sides had agreed on the term “superintelligence” used by Donald Trump instead of the usual term artificial intelligence. The term artificial intelligence makes the technology appear “fake,” the US President explained his initiative.

It is not yet known how the US-Chinese dialogue channel will be structured and which authorities will be involved. The USA and China are considered the leading AI powers and face fierce competition for global technology leadership. At the same time, concerns about the dangers of ever more powerful AI are growing in both countries.

Xi was in the US for a state visit from Wednesday to Friday.