Bessent met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng ahead of the summit between the countries' heads of state on Thursday. #
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said his meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng was "successful" ahead of the summit between the countries' heads of state on Thursday.
Bessent, who attended the meeting along with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, said officials discussed a "Dialogue" related to AI development, with Washington proposing a mechanism where one party would notify the other when an incident that could have national security implications takes place.
"We think that just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important," Bessent said.
The AI discussions come as both governments face growing pressure to address the risks associated with rapidly advancing artificial intelligence systems while maintaining their competitive positions.
The Trump administration has rejected calls from some technology leaders and researchers to slow AI development, arguing that the United States must continue advancing quickly in competition with China.
At the same time, a recent poll showed that most Americans acknowledge potentially serious dangers from increasingly powerful artificial intelligence, but there is less agreement over whether the country should accept losing ground to China and other countries to reduce those risks.
APOLITICO Poll found 43% of respondents said it would be acceptable for the U.S. to fall behind other countries if doing so meant developing AI more responsibly and securely. Another 37%, however, said the country should not stand down from the international competition even if staying ahead required taking risks.
The divide was sharper among voters who backed President Donald Trump in the 2024 election, with 50% favoring continued competition and 38% saying it was acceptable to fall behind for safer development. The poll was conducted by POLITICO and independent polling company Public First.
Those differences emerged even though concerns about advanced AI has extended across the electorate. In another finding released from the survey, 63% of respondents said there was a real possibility that AI could eventually destroy humanity. Researchers and technology executives disagree widely over the likelihood and timing of catastrophic outcomes from advanced AI systems.
In fact, Geoffrey Hinton, known as the "Godfather of AI," said Congress is running out of time to regulate artificial intelligence before losing the ability to do so.
Speaking to lawmakers behind closed doors last week, Hinton said Congress has "maybe a year, but not much more than a year."
He went on to say that "if you look at predictions for when we'll get superintelligence," the timeline "used to be maybe 30 years, maybe 50 years" but then it kept getting lowered.
"Then it came down to maybe 10 years, maybe 20 years. Now people are saying, a lot of the researchers are saying only a few years," Hinton added.
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