U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected the prospect of technological cooperation with China on artificial intelligence, arguing that sharing American capabilities would amount to “giving away secrets” to the United States’ principal competitor in the global AI race.
2+Speaking at an event in Washington, Trump emphasized America’s leading position in AI and made clear that he does not intend to allow competitors to close the technological gap. Trump’s remarks come just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington, during which the United States and China established a new dialogue on artificial intelligence — which the Trump administration has begun referring to as “super intelligence.”
Under the agreement announced by the White House, Washington and Beijing will exchange views on the risks and benefits associated with the technology, with another round of discussions scheduled by November. The two countries also established a bilateral communication channel for AI-related incidents.
2+Trump, however, drew a distinction between maintaining dialogue with Beijing and cooperating in the development of the technology itself, warning that doing so could give China access to American technological advantages. Speaking at an event marking the launch of America.gov, a new AI-powered government platform designed to streamline access to federal information and services, Trump said the United States is “leading by far” in artificial intelligence and has no intention of surrendering that advantage.
“If we do that, we’re going to be giving away a lot of secrets that we have that they’d like to have, or anybody else,” Trump said. “Frankly, there’s nobody in third place … it’s all us and China.” America.gov, unveiled Tuesday, uses artificial intelligence to help Americans navigate government information and services through a centralized platform. The administration says the system is intended eventually to help users perform tasks ranging from applying for passports to enrolling in Medicare.
2+Trump’s aggressive approach to maintaining America’s technological lead comes amid growing public debate in the United States over the potential risks posed by rapidly advancing artificial intelligence and calls for additional safeguards. The president has repeatedly dismissed some of the most dire warnings surrounding AI, while arguing that slowing American development could allow China to gain the upper hand in a technology he views as central to future economic and strategic power.
The contrast was evident during Xi’s visit to Washington. The Chinese president called for greater dialogue between the two countries on AI and argued that the United States and China have more reasons to cooperate than compete in the field, while stressing the importance of maintaining human control over the technology. Trump, by contrast, has continued to frame the issue largely as a technological competition in which maintaining the American advantage is paramount. “We’re leading China and everybody else right now, and I want to keep it that way,” Trump said.