A potential U.S.-China AI agreement?

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Kimberly Adams (0:55)

The US and China are trying to figure out what to do about AI.

From Marketplace in Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet later this week in Washington. US and Chinese officials met yesterday in New York to try to pave the way for some kind of agreement on AI. Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Ganzer joins me now with the details. Good morning, Nancy.

Nancy Marshall-Ganzer (1:21)

Good morning.

Kimberly Adams (1:22)

What type of AI agreement are we talking about here?

Nancy Marshall-Ganzer (1:25)

Well, the Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, met with the Chinese Vice Premier yesterday and Bessent told reporters after the talks they'd agreed to set up a U.S.-China AI dialogue. The intent here is for both sides to have a common understanding of the benefits of AI but also potential threats.

Bessent said the US had proposed what he called a notification mechanism for AI-related incidents that could affect national security.

Kimberly Adams (1:50)

Did anything more concrete come out of these preliminary talks?

Nancy Marshall-Ganzer (1:54)

No.

Of course, you remember Kimberly Anthropa, co-founder and CEO Dario Amadei, published an essay calling for a slowdown in AI research and better monitoring of it. But Bessent didn't talk about the two sides agreeing on any limits on AI research or development. Bessent told the Financial Times, the important thing was just to talk with the Chinese about this. He says they'll probably meet again in two months. The Financial Times quoted Bessent is also saying that the US was concerned about things like AI agents going out of control and AI cyber threats.

Kimberly Adams (2:31)

What was China's reaction? Does it look like they're on board?

Nancy Marshall-Ganzer (2:34)

Hard to say, Kimberly. The Chinese state news agency Xinhua did acknowledge that issues relating to AI were discussed at the meeting.

China is worried the US wants to restrain its development of AI. On the other hand, US companies have accused China of copying American AI models.

Kimberly Adams (2:52)

So are Trump and Xi expected to discuss AI at their meeting later this week?

Nancy Marshall-Ganzer (2:58)

They are expected to. The groundwork has certainly been laid out for them. They do have some common concerns around AI.

The US and China are both worried about AI attacks on their infrastructure, everything from their financial systems to their electrical grids. And there will be more meetings later this year where the two sides can discuss this. China is scheduled to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in November. And the Group of 20 is set to meet in Florida in December.

Kimberly Adams (3:27)

Thank you, Nancy.

Nancy Marshall-Ganzer (3:28)

You're welcome.

Kimberly Adams (3:31)

And just this morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was on CNBC revealing more details on what the US wants in a potential AI agreement.

Scott Bessent (3:39)

We want to open a communications line, an incident line, so that we have constant communications, especially in the event of some kind of an incident.

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