US and China Prepare for Critical September AI Talks
The United States and China will hold high-stakes negotiations over artificial intelligence this September, as the rival superpowers grapple with how to mitigate the profound risks posed by each other's increasingly powerful frontier models.
The AI talks, which represent a significant outcome of the Trump-Xi summit in May, will likely take place before Chinese President Xi Jinping's planned September 24 visit to the U.S.
A Global AI Race and Intellectual Property Concerns
As economic, political, and military rivals, Beijing and Washington are weighing how to regulate advanced AI models that could strengthen military capabilities, enable cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, and disrupt labor markets.
The September talks will be led on the U.S. side by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. In a recent interview on Fox Business Network, Bessent cited major concerns regarding intellectual property, arguing that models need to be held to the same standards globally.
"We are finding watermarks of our U.S. large language models on many of the Chinese models, and that that's unacceptable," Bessent stated. "We're going to be looking at that in the coming days or weeks."
Trade Tensions and Blacklist Hesitation
These planned meetings will constitute the first official U.S.-China dialogue on AI under President Donald Trump. While former President Joe Biden agreed with Xi in 2024 that humans should control nuclear weapons decisions, this new administration faces a rapidly accelerating tech landscape.
The U.S. has already limited exports to China of some of the most advanced AI chips. However, the government has recently held off on adding China's AI startup DeepSeek, memory chipmaker CXMT, and over 100 other companies to a trade blacklist in an effort to avoid escalating tensions with Beijing.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer confirmed that multiple government agencies are looking closely at how China propagates its AI development. Greer cited concerns over forced technology transfers, intellectual property issues, and energy subsidies, stating, "We're taking a very close look at how China is propagating its AI development to make sure that our companies compete ... on a level playing field."
China's Push for Technical Engagement
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities are mulling their own curbs on overseas access to the most powerful Chinese-developed AI models. Beijing is particularly concerned about the hacking potential of advanced Western systems, such as Anthropic's currently unreleased "Mythos" model.
Analysts suggest Beijing's priority list for the discussions includes addressing Mythos, understanding how the U.S. will control the release of future advanced frontier models, and determining whether Washington will impose explicit restrictions on Chinese open-weight models.
China is reportedly looking for authentic engagement and technical discussions rather than purely political posturing.
"This is the first meeting, they're unlikely to solve any major problems," noted Paul Triolo, a partner at the DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group. "I think they will try to agree to some basic terms, like what defines a frontier AI model."
As preparations remain in their initial stages, both nations are carefully strategizing for a dialogue that could redefine global technology governance.