The United States and China were discussing setting up “guardrails” for the use of artificial intelligence (AI), US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Thursday, with growing calls for regulation of the burgeoning technology.
“We’re actually going to be discussing the AI guardrails with the Chinese because the Chinese are substantially behind us but they have a very advanced AI industry here,” he said during US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing.
Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling President Xi Jinping a “great leader” and “friend” and extending an invitation to visit the White House in September.
The two sides have a number of outstanding trade disputes, including on US export controls on advanced AI technology to China.
Trump is accompanied by several top leaders in the tech world, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and xAI’s Elon Musk.
Bessent said that the world’s “two AI superpowers are going to start talking.”
The Treasury secretary said Washington and Beijing would set up a “protocol” on the path forward on AI, particularly “to make sure non-state actors don’t get a hold of these models.”
He insisted, however, that Washington did not want to “stifle innovation” and that he was “very satisfied” with how leading tech companies had rolled out models so far.
Bessent said that given the US lead in AI technology, Washington would use “US best practices, US values” to determine the course forward “and then roll those out to the world.”
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