U.S. and Chinese officials have concluded talks in New York, during which Washington proposed establishing a new AI safety mechanism for exchanging information about major artificial intelligence threats.
The discussions, which concluded on Sunday, took place ahead of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled for Thursday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the talks as highly successful.
AI is expected to be a key topic during Thursday’s Trump-Xi meeting, following warnings from U.S. AI experts that rapid advancements in the technology could pose existential risks.
“The U.S. has proposed that we have a notification mechanism between the two countries,” Bessent said.
Bessent said the proposed notification system would allow the U.S. and China to inform each other about significant AI-related incidents, particularly those that could pose national security risks. He added that the two countries had agreed to hold further meetings.
Bessent emphasized that greater transparency between the world’s two leading AI powers would be important, especially given the cross-border nature of emerging technologies.
The meeting focused on preparations for the Trump-Xi summit in Washington, with no other major agreements announced.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the AI discussions would not affect existing U.S. export controls on advanced AI chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment used by Chinese AI companies. He clarified that these controls were excluded from the proposed information-sharing mechanism.
Washington has also raised concerns with Beijing over the supply of rare-earth magnets and other critical minerals essential to industries such as automobile and advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
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