US President Donald Trump has ruled out any sort of joint venture with China in artificial intelligence (AI), arguing it would be tantamount to “giving away secrets” to America’s main economic rival.
Speaking at an event in Washington on Tuesday, Trump again argued against putting any restrictions on the technology that would stifle growth in the future, despite mounting public concern.
Following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House last week, Beijing and Washington announced the launch of a new AI dialogue, with further talks scheduled for November.
The two countries also established a new communications channel to prevent misunderstandings during AI-related incidents.
During Tuesday’s event marking the launch of America.gov – a new AI-powered website designed to streamline government services – Trump argued the US is “leading by a lot” in the AI sector and does not want to “mix it up” with potential competitors.
“If we do that, we’re going to be giving a lot of secrets that we have that they [China] would want to have, or anybody else,” he said. “Frankly, there is nobody in third place…it’s all between us and China.”
Trump added that while the topic of AI came up during his meeting with President Xi last week, he remains steadfast against any sort of joint cooperation to develop the technology.
“Then they’re going to be able to immediately gain access to things that we know that they don’t know,” he said, remarking that “we’re leading now over China and everyone else, and I want to keep it that way”.
Prior to Trump’s meeting with Xi, China’s foreign ministry warned that “narratives of threat” and confrontation hinder AI governance.
Domestically, Trump has faced increasing public concern over the potential dangers of AI and calls for additional guardrails to be put in place.
A recent poll published by Politico in late September found that two of every three Americans believes there is at least a “moderate” risk that AI could destroy humanity.
A significant portion of Trump supporters polled – 44% – said they would prefer if AI development could be paused.
The US president, however, has repeatedly shrugged off safety concerns, referring to them as a “hoax” and comparing them to the “global warming scam” he claims is “being perpetrated by radical left Dumocrats”.
