AI development is becoming a point of contention between the US and China, with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call to slow AI progress and restrict chip sales to China drawing sharp criticism from China's state media, which views it as a protectionist move to maintain US technological supremacy and initiate a "silent AI cold war."

AI development is becoming a point of contention between the US and China, with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call to slow AI progress and restrict chip sales to China drawing sharp criticism from China's state media, which views it as a protectionist move to maintain US technological supremacy and initiate a "silent AI cold war."

AI development is becoming a point of contention between the US and China, with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call to slow AI progress and restrict chip sales to China drawing sharp criticism from China's state media, which views it as a protectionist move to maintain US technological supremacy and initiate a "silent AI cold war."

An AI-driven rift appears to be brewing between the US and China after the latter's state-owned media outlet Global Times on Monday said Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei’s recent comments about slowing AI development were simply tactics to curb the country’s advancement on the AI frontier.

Amodei published a blog on Saturday proposing a framework to slow AI development, flagging concerns such as decreasing control over models, misuse for bioterrorism and economic disruption. The move came on the heels of an OpenAI researcher resigning, claiming that AI will have the power to kill humans by 2030.

Amodei’s essay was received with great enthusiasm, with rival companies, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, endorsing his message.

While the CEO outlined generic practices to slow down AI, he mentioned China specifically, urging countries to stop selling powerful AI chips or semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China. He claimed that the country has the most advanced AI capabilities.

“Global pacing will require cooperation with China, the autocratic country with by far the most advanced AI capabilities,” said Amodei. “If we greatly restrain our AI capabilities in the belief that China will do the same, and then China defects, AI could be so powerful that such a defection could lead to their geopolitical dominance,” he added.

Amodei suggested that a crackdown on unauthorised distillation was necessary, claiming that authoritarian countries often trained their AI models from the bigger ones.

The Global Times, reacting to the comments, published an article titled “Anthropic CEO's China-targeted AI curbs driven by commercial interests, slammed as 'hostile' and 'groundless.'

The tabloid claimed that the true agenda behind Amodei’s essay was to maintain US monopolistic hegemony in cutting-edge technology and that this “silent AI cold war” is shortsighted.

Liu Shaoshan, an AI expert who has previously worked with Amodei, was quoted: “Once AI is portrayed as a technology that will determine national competition, national security, and even the future of civilisation, an AI company is no longer seen as an ordinary tech company, but as 'strategic infrastructure.' This directly increases its policy importance, raises industry barriers, and boosts its valuation.”

The tabloid hints that Anthropic’s specific comments on China were aimed at reducing competition from rapidly advancing Chinese AI models. It added that excluding the country would increase trial-and-error costs and risks losing control in global AI development.

On the other hand, US lawmakers are rapidly considering implementing new rules to govern AI systems. US President Donald Trump completely brushed off these concerns and said, “We're leading China in AI. We're the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins.”

Reuters reported that the US and China might discuss AI safety risks on September 24, during a summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

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