Trump rules out joint US-China venture to develop AI
The US president continues to push back on calls to establish guardrails around artificial intelligence, arguing it will stifle growth.
Trump rejects US-China AI partnership
US President Donald Trump has dismissed any kind of joint venture with China in artificial intelligence (AI), saying it would amount to "giving away secrets" to America’s chief economic competitor.
At an event in Washington on Tuesday, Trump once again opposed imposing any limits on the technology that could slow future growth, despite rising public concern.
After Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House last week, Beijing and Washington announced the start of a new AI dialogue, with additional talks set for November.
The two sides also set up a new communications channel to avoid misunderstandings in AI-related incidents.
At Tuesday’s event launching America.gov - a new AI-powered website intended to simplify government services - Trump said the US is "leading by a lot" in the AI field and does not want to "mix it up" with possible rivals.
"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 said that although AI was discussed during his meeting with President Xi last week, he remains firmly opposed to any joint effort 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, adding that "we're leading now over China and everyone else, and I want to keep it that way".
Before Trump’s meeting with Xi, China’s foreign ministry warned that "narratives of threat" and confrontation make AI governance harder.
At home, Trump has been facing growing public concern about the possible dangers of AI and calls for more safeguards.
A recent Politico poll published in late September found that two of every three Americans believes there is at least a "moderate" risk that AI could destroy humanity.
A sizable share of Trump supporters surveyed - 44% - said they would prefer AI development to be paused.
Trump, however, has repeatedly brushed aside safety worries, calling them a "hoax" and likening them to the "global warming scam" he says is "being perpetrated by radical left Dumocrats".