# China bogeyman looms large over American firms’ AI doomsday scenario > Source: > Published: 2026-09-19 10:00:45+00:00 # China bogeyman looms large over American firms’ AI doomsday scenario [The Guardian Technology](https://www.theguardian.com/us/technology) Silicon Valley China hawks, [Anthropic](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/anthropic) CEO Dario Amodei among them, fear the country surpassing US’s AI lead as much as superintelligence destroying humanity When reporters asked Donald Trump this week if he supported calls to slow down the development of [artificial intelligence](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence) out of growing fears for cybersecurity, public safety and the fate of humanity, he said no. His argument: China. “We’re leading China in AI,” Trump said. “We’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI, wins.” [Continue reading...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/sep/19/china-ai-foreign-policy-dario-amodei) Get AI news in your inbox Daily digest of what matters in AI. ## Key Terms Explained [Anthropic](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/anthropic) An AI safety company founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, including Dario and Daniela Amodei. [Artificial Intelligence](https://www.machinebrief.com/glossary/artificial-intelligence) The science of creating machines that can perform tasks requiring human-like intelligence — reasoning, learning, perception, language understanding, and decision-making.