US-China Meet to Draft AI Safety Pact Amid Global Governance Fears

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met at JPMorgan Chase's global headquarters to discuss an AI safety notification mechanism, a system through which Washington and Beijing would alert each other when an artificial intelligence incident rises to the level of a national security threat.

The US wants a channel for communicating when AI-related incidents occur, but it remains unclear whether China wants such a channel or would accept one operating on the same terms.

Bessent described the proposal as a transparency agreement between 'the number one and the number two AI powers in the world.'

Greer stated that export controls on advanced AI chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment are not on the agenda, but Washington is willing to build an incident-reporting channel with China.