U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States and China have begun a new dialogue on artificial intelligence and are establishing a direct channel through which either side can promptly alert the other to serious incidents involving its AI models. Bessent made the announcement Tuesday, November 10, in keynote remarks at the National Committee on US-China Relations' 60th Anniversary Gala Dinner in New York.
Bessent said the AI dialogue was launched at President Donald Trump's direction and is "designed to guard against shared risk and prevent misunderstandings between our two systems." The incident channel would give each government a standing line to warn the other when something goes seriously wrong with one of its AI models.
The dialogue will also reach into how frontier systems are vetted. "We also expect to exchange best practices for evaluating and testing advanced models before their release," Bessent said, adding that the two sides would share approaches for keeping human judgment firmly in command of the technology.
Key facts
- 01Scott Bessent said on November 10 that the US and China are setting up a direct channel to alert each other to serious AI model incidents.
- 02The new US-China AI dialogue was launched at President Donald Trump's direction, according to Bessent.
- 03The two sides expect to exchange best practices for evaluating and testing advanced models before release.
- 04Bessent spoke at the National Committee on US-China Relations' 60th Anniversary Gala Dinner in New York.
- 05Bessent will join Trump in Shenzhen next week to meet Xi Jinping, ahead of a fourth Trump-Xi meeting in Miami.
Bessent's remarks, as reported, did not say which agencies will operate the incident channel, when it will begin operating, or what threshold will define a serious incident.
Bessent paired the cooperation announcement with a warning that the AI dialogue does not erase competition between Washington and Beijing. He said the two countries will cooperate on managing AI risks without overlooking their differences.
“We should harbor no illusions about the differences between the United States and China”— Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary
Much of the speech dealt with trade. Bessent said the US trade imbalance with China has long been a source of friction and that the administration's objective is "to de-risk, not to decouple." He said the United States must produce more of what it consumes, while China must consume more of what it produces.
“Our interests will not always coincide, and our approach to every challenge likewise will not always converge.”— Scott Bessent, US Treasury Secretary
"Working together, we can strengthen both of our economies without perpetuating the imbalances between them," Bessent said. He added that the administration's renewed emphasis on economic strength does not reflect hostility toward its trading partnerships, and a Treasury Department post on the speech said trade must advance the interests of both parties without diminishing the sovereignty of either.
Bessent said Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agree the two countries should build a constructive relationship on the basis of balance and reciprocity. He said he will join Trump in Shenzhen next week for a meeting with Xi, ahead of a fourth meeting between the two leaders in Miami.
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