On Monday, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun criticized U.S. AI leaders, including Anthropic's Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman, for suggesting a slowdown in AI development due to potential risks. Guo described their concerns as 'fear mongering' that could disrupt global AI governance.
Concurrently, China's Minister of State Security, Chen Yixin, advocated for accelerating the establishment of an AI security risk prevention system, framing AI as a critical battleground in global technological competition. Following these developments, AI-related stocks, particularly SoftBank, which heavily invests in OpenAI, saw a significant decline, with shares dropping 10%.
Amodei warned that slowing down AI development could allow authoritarian regimes, particularly the Chinese Communist Party, to gain an advantage, posing national security risks. U.S. President Donald Trump echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a strategic lead in AI over China.
Meanwhile, President Xi Jinping indicated China's commitment to leading AI collaboration among developing nations, suggesting that Chinese AI models are increasingly being adopted by Western companies as their capabilities improve