US is ‘superhero’, China ‘supervillain’ in global AI contest, American officials warn

US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast and Senator Jim Banks warned that China is eroding America's lead in the global AI race, framing the contest as a moral and national security issue. Mast described the US as the 'superhero' and China as the 'supervillain' in the competition for AI supremacy.

US is ‘superhero’, China ‘supervillain’ in global AI contest, American officials warn US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast and Senator Jim Banks expressed concerns about China eroding America’s lead Lucy Quaggin /author/lucy-quaggin in New York US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast warned that “America is the superhero” and China the “supervillain” in the contest for global artificial intelligence AI leadership on Thursday, just two days after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said America’s “biggest risk” on AI is China getting ahead. The United States and China remain locked in an increasingly competitive race for worldwide AI supremacy, with many American officials concerned that China is eroding the US’ early lead. “The AI race is not just an economic race, national security race, but I think it’s a moral race for our country,” said Jim Banks, a Republican senator from Indiana, adding that the US cannot afford to lose this race to its “biggest adversary”. Speaking at the Hudson Institute event titled “Securing America’s AI Advantage: a Discussion on US Export Control Policy with Senator Jim Banks and Chairman Brian Mast”, the pair examined how AI was emerging as a key factor that would define Washington and Beijing’s relationship, framing it as a bipartisan issue. “AI has the ability to create superpowers, whether it creates a supervillain or whether it creates a superhero, that depends on the actions that are taken,” Mast, a Republican representative from Florida, told the conservative Washington think tank, comparing the technology to the spider that turned Peter Parker into Spider-Man. Banks and Mast’s comments come just two days after Bessent told the Economic Club of New York that the “biggest risk” of the technology was China surpassing the US.