US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, are scheduled to meet on Thursday, with their countries' competing artificial intelligence ambitions high on the agenda. The outcome of their discussions is expected to significantly influence global AI development and governance.
Both nations are recognized as global leaders in AI, though their approaches and stated goals differ. President Trump has openly declared his ambition for US AI supremacy, identifying China as the primary rival and dismissing AI's risks to humans as "a hoax." Conversely, China's foreign ministry has warned against "narratives of threat" and confrontation, advocating for cooperation to ensure AI benefits all.
American companies currently lead in developing so-called frontier AI models, with systems from firms like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI consistently topping most benchmarks. This advantage is partly fueled by substantial investments, as leading AI labs require significant capital to build infrastructure for training new models. The booming stock market and projected profitability of AI companies largely underpin the US economy's expansion. However, sweeping US government restrictions prevent American companies from selling advanced microchips, crucial for cutting-edge models, to Chinese firms.
Despite chip restrictions, new AI models emerge almost monthly in both countries. China's AI industry has focused on releasing open weight models—downloadable and adaptable—in contrast to many US firms' proprietary, subscription-based systems. These Chinese models, such as Moonshot AI's Kimi K3, have gained popularity domestically and internationally, performing close to frontier models while remaining freely available. Rebecca Arcesati from the Mercator Institute for China Studies noted China's view of AI as a "power maximiser, " seeing the race as crucial for its leadership.
Beijing's strategy emphasizes deploying AI technology across its economy. Lizzi Lee, an analyst from the Asia Society Policy Institute, highlighted that while the US might lead at the frontier, China could gain "enormous economic and geopolitical leverage by making capable AI cheap, open and ubiquitous." China also holds an advantage in energy, a critical resource, due to lower power costs.
In robotics, a field some believe will be transformative, China has become the world's largest manufacturer. The International Federation of Robotics estimates over two million robots operate in Chinese factories. China also dominates humanoid robot production, accounting for more than nine-tenths of global shipments in the first half of the year, according to independent policy institute Chatham House.
