# US, China need nuclear-style AI safeguards, congressman says before Xi-Trump summit > Source: > Published: 2026-09-21 22:48:38+00:00 Advertisement # US, China need nuclear-style AI safeguards, congressman says before Xi-Trump summit Top Democrat on the House China committee calls for international inspections of leading AI laboratories and a ban on self-improving systems 3-MIN READ3-MIN [Lucy Quaggin](https://www.scmp.com/author/lucy-quaggin)in New York The US and China should agree on international regulatory standards for [artificial intelligence (AI)](https://www.scmp.com/topics/artificial-intelligence?pgtype=search?module=inline&pgtype=article), akin to atomic-era guardrails, said[Ro Khanna](https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3338833/california-progressive-lead-democrats-house-china-panel-seeks-economic-patriotism?pgtype=search?module=inline&pgtype=article), the ranking member of the[US House Select Committee on China](https://www.scmp.com/topics/house-select-committee-chinese-communist-party-us?pgtype=search?module=inline&pgtype=article), in New York on Monday ahead of the two countries’ high-stakes summit. The remarks come two days before Chinese President [Xi Jinping](https://www.scmp.com/topics/xi-jinping?pgtype=search?module=inline&pgtype=article)is set to arrive in Washington to meet with US President[Donald Trump](https://www.scmp.com/topics/donald-trump?pgtype=search?module=inline&pgtype=article)for a closely watched summit where AI is expected to be on the agenda after the two countries agreed to establish a dialogue on the technology a day earlier. “I hope there will be an agreement between Trump and Xi Jinping to have some safety standards,” Khanna told the South China Morning Post. “To have a ban on recursive self-improving AI and also a certification standard and inspection standard to make sure we don’t have [AI models](https://www.scmp.com/topics/ai-companies?pgtype=search?module=inline&pgtype=article)that lose control or that are misused.” Khanna noted that the two leaders planned to discuss AI but said they needed a concrete framework to reach an agreement. Select Voice Select Speed 1x AI-generated voice