U.S. proposes AI alert system with China ahead of Trump-Xi summit

HONG KONG — The United States has proposed a new AI safety notification mechanism for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to consider at their summit in Washington this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday, amid global concern over whether the world’s two leading AI powers can work together to contain the technology’s potential dangers. Speaking to reporters after daylong talks in New York with Chinese officials, Bessent said the two sides had discussed setting up a new U.S.-China AI dialogue that would include a mechanism for alerting each other to AI-related incidents that could affect national security. “We think that just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important,” he said, adding that the two sides had agreed to meet again on the AI issue.

AI is expected to be high on the agenda when Trump and Xi meet Thursday, especially after warnings from AI leaders in the U.S. that the technology could pose an existential threat within a few years. Trump has dismissed such concerns as a “hoax” while agreeing with AI executives such as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei that the U.S. must not allow China to pull ahead in the global AI race. Experts