Just as AI companies race recklessly to build artificial superintelligence, the U.S. sees itself as racing against China. But China’s own views are more nuanced.
So how do industry and policymakers in China view AI safety and the extinction threat posed by artificial superintelligence? Concordia AI, a Beijing-based organization aiming to bring Western and Chinese AI safety and governance research closer together, has helped bridge the gap with its recent annual State of AI Safety in China report.
One of the most significant findings is that concerns about relevant AI risks have reached the highest levels of the Chinese leadership. For example, the report cites a speech by Chinese leader Xi Jinping from earlier this year in which he explicitly warned of “risks of technological loss of control.” He reiterated similar sentiments during a Politburo study session, where he stressed the importance of “anticipating and preventing risks and proceeding with prudence and restraint.” At the opening ceremony of the Summer Davos Forum in Dalian, Premier Li Qiang made similar remarks and warned that AI could “very likely lead to serious consequences” if governance fails to keep pace with AI development.
Back in September, China’s cybersecurity standards body, TC260, had already updated its AI Safety Governance Framework, recommending “safety stop switches” and “circuit breakers” for autonomously operating AI systems. In response, Chinese AI developers Alibaba, Huawei, and DeepSeek also issued a joint statement acknowledging that users should always be able to shut down AI systems immediately.
However, the report also makes it clear that most regulations are voluntary agreements and that there are very few truly binding requirements.
Following President Trump’s visit to Beijing in May, the two governments announced that they intended to resume their joint dialogue on AI for the first time since May 2024. However, this has not yet happened. Hopefully, those in charge in both governments realize that the race can only be stopped by working together.
The analyses and opinions expressed on AI StopWatch reflect the views of the individual contributors and the sources they cover, and should not be taken as official positions of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute.