Trump rules out joint US-China venture to develop AI

ByBernd Debusmann Jr White House reporter.

Key points

• A significant portion of Trump supporters polled – 44% – remarked they would prefer if AI development could be paused.
• Prior to Trump's session with Xi, China's foreign ministry cautioned that "narratives of threat" and confrontation hinder AI governance.
• Speaking at an event in Washington on Tuesday, Trump again argued against putting any restrictions on the technology that would stifle expansion going forward, despite mounting public concern.
• Domestically, Trump has faced increasing public concern over the potential dangers of AI and calls for extra guardrails to be put in place.
• The two countries additionally established a new communications channel to prevent misunderstandings during AI-related incidents.

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.

After Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the White House last week, Beijing and Washington unveiled the launch of a new AI dialogue, with further discussions scheduled for November.

In practice, the two countries additionally 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 administration 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 would want to have, or anybody else, " he remarked. "Frankly, there is nobody in third place.it's all between us and China."

Trump continued that while the topic of AI came up during his gathering 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 remarked, remarking that "we're leading now over China and everyone else, and I want to keep it that way".

Meanwhile, a recent poll published by Politico in late September discovered that two of every three Americans believes there is at least a "moderate" risk that AI could destroy humanity.

For context, a significant portion of Trump supporters polled – 44% – remarked they would prefer if AI development could be paused.

Notably, the US president, nevertheless, has repeatedly shrugged off safety worries, referring to them as a "hoax" and comparing them to the "global warming scam" he claims is "being perpetrated by radical left Dumocrats".

For now, trump rules out joint US remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.