China Opposes Artificial Intelligence Slowdown and Criticizes United States Executives

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China has rejected calls from artificial intelligence executives in the United States to slow the development of the technology, describing the position as unjustified alarmism.

Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that alarmism, confrontation, and competition will only disrupt the global governance process of artificial intelligence. This response follows requests from executives including Sam Altman of OpenAI, Elon Musk, and Dario Amodei of Anthropic, who argued for a reduction in the pace of advances due to the risks associated with accelerated progress.

In a separate development, Chen Yixin, the Minister of State Security of China, published an article calling for the acceleration of a security risk prevention and control system for artificial intelligence. He described the field as the primary battlefield for global technological competition and a new arena for strategic rivalry between major powers, while advocating for healthy and orderly development.

President Xi Jinping also stated at the Brics summit in New Delhi that China will lead initiatives to encourage collaboration and development of artificial intelligence among developing countries.

United States President Donald Trump rejected the idea of a slowdown during a trip to Ireland, stating that the United States is leading China in artificial intelligence and intends to maintain that position because the winner of the technology wins overall.

Dario Amodei wrote in an essay that while developing the technology too quickly is imprudent, failing to develop it deprives humanity of benefits or places the technology in the hands of authoritarian powers. He argued that if the United States slows down more than the advantage it holds over the Communist Party of China, projects associated with that party will move ahead, creating a significant national security risk.

Market reactions to the executives' appeals included a decline in artificial intelligence related shares, with SoftBank shares falling 10 percent in Japan.

Helen Toner, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology and former OpenAI board member, noted that the best Chinese models are estimated to be between six and nine months behind the best American models. She suggested that if the United States slows down and China does not, it creates a problem, though she noted it is unclear if Chinese advances are simply following the United States lead.