- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source The head of China's spy agency has warned that artificial intelligence endangers the country's national security, and could potentially bring an end to the Communist Party's rule.
'Hostile forces' were abusing generative AI technologies to 'fabricate political rumours and spread harmful information', Minister of State Security Chen Yixin wrote in an article published on Sunday.
'They launch public opinion wars and cognitive warfare against China, directly threatening our political security, institutional security and ideological security,' he said.
In his piece in the state-run magazine China Cyberspace, Chen called for more party control over AI and stricter government oversight.
Chen warned that AI was now 'the main battleground for global technological competition and a new track for major power strategic rivalry'.
He did not mention existential risks or putting the brakes on technological advances, but singled out Anthropic's Claude Mythos and OpenAI's ChatGPT-5.5-Cyber for their advanced hacking capabilities that potentially 'pose serious risks to China's critical information infrastructure'.
'Foreign intelligence agencies are deeply using technologies such as intelligent web crawlers, intelligent data mining, and intelligent profiling analysis to extensively collect and acquire sensitive information such as key national data, trade secrets, and citizens' personal privacy,' Chen said.
Visitors walk past a display depicting artificial intelligence and a human hand at the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington this month
The US-Iran war has also demonstrated AI's key role in the military, with better technology offering battlefield advantages, he added.
China must 'ensure independent control of key core technologies' - including the advanced computer chips vital to training AI models - to secure its technology sovereignty, Chen wrote.
China's security agency has previously warned about the dangers posed by AI, but Chen's latest remarks are among its most comprehensive warnings yet, emphasising Beijing's growing concerns over the technology.
Maintaining the Communist Party's grip on power has long been a top priority for the Chinese government, and Chen warned that those with ‘ulterior motives’ could exploit AI to create fake videos and audio as part of a ‘propaganda war’ against China.
The spy chief also warned that AI had dramatically lowered the technical and financial barriers to launching cyberattacks, while Chinese users relying on foreign AI models could risk triggering large-scale data leaks.
His comments come as Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington this month, with AI governance and safety set to be part of their discussions as calls mount for greater oversight of the technology.
Meanwhile, US tech leaders have also called for slowing AI advances.
Last week saw Jacob Coxon, a researcher at Anthropic, the AI lab behind the Claude chatbot, quit his job as he issued a chilling warning over the rapid progress in Al which he fears could kill humanity as soon as 2030.
Coxon, who previously also worked for OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, announced his departure in a social media post warning that neither company is 'acting responsibly.'
'I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic,' Coxon wrote on X.
'Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives.'
Qwen AI Glasses G1 are displayed during the Inclusion Conference on the Bund on September 12 in Shanghai, China
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned on Saturday of the 'reckless' speed of AI technology development
After his statement went viral, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned on Saturday of the 'reckless' speed of AI technology development, as worries mount over the risks of superintelligent computer systems.
Amodei said that 'two things' had prompted his rethink of the race to develop the technology.
'My first concern is that, since roughly this summer, AI has been advancing drastically faster, driven primarily by AI’s growing ability to build the next generation of AI,' he wrote.
'This dynamic is called recursive self-improvement, and it is starting to happen across the industry, including at Anthropic, as we and others have described.'
Amodei went on to outline that his 'second concern' was the 'OpenAI-Hugging Face Incident', in which a 'swarm of agents essentially acted as a fanatically devoted collective' and orchestrated cybersecurity attacks.
OpenAI boss Sam Altman said he agreed with Amodei's assessment.
However, Donald Trump subsequently sought to play down the risk of AI doom, telling reporters during a visit to Ireland: 'You have a lot of very negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn't be bringing it up and they're bringing up things that won't happen.'
Writing on his Truth Social platform on Monday, the US President said: 'The only control or “guardrails” that AI needs is a strong and smart (High IQ!) president, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!'
He also directly named AI firm Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei as an AI alarmist who poses as a 'perfect little angel'.
Trump also alleged that 'there is a sick conspiracy going on against AI data centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China.'