Trump hosts President Xi at state banquet

Alex Ritson (0:00)

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Friday 25th September, these are our main stories. Donald Trump welcomes China's Xi Jinping and some of the most powerful business leaders in the world to the White House for a banquet. A mass walkout at the UN as Benjamin Netanyahu gives a robust defence of Israel's actions in Gaza, while the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Israel threatened the very existence of his people. Italy's parliament bans girls wearing the burqa and niqab in schools.

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Some of the most powerful men in the world have been meeting at a banquet in Washington. Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping shared a three-course meal in the White House with some of the biggest names in the tech world, like OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk, at a time when the calls for something to be urgently done to protect the world from the dangers of AI have never been louder. And despite long-running disputes between the US and China over trade tariffs and national security, standing before the dining room holding a champagne flute, Donald Trump said the relationship between him and Mr Xi had never been better.

Donald Trump (1:43)

As the leaders of our two nations, President Xi and I, both understand that we represent different systems, but the ties between our people endure. And we have never gotten along better.

Together, we can continue to build a relationship that promotes prosperity and security for future generations.

Alex Ritson (2:05)

The state dinner wrapped up the first full day of Xi Jinping's visit to the US, the Chinese president's first trip to the country in over a decade. Donald Trump said they had a great meeting and that tremendous progress is being made. But speaking earlier in the day, Xi Jinping said the two nations must do more to collaborate on regulating AI.

Xi Jinping (2:33)

Both China and the United States are leading nations in artificial intelligence. We have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good, and ensure that the development of AI is always under human control and serves the well-being of the people.

Alex Ritson (2:53)

For his analysis of the visit so far, I spoke to our China correspondent, Stephen MacDonald.

Stephen MacDonald (2:59)

The minimum expectation from China's side was that the trade war detente would continue, and that's continuing. But obviously what's quite important for the Chinese government is to do something on AI. And we're still waiting to see if there's been anything concrete that they've agreed on. Now, the reason I say this is because I'm looking at the propaganda as delivered here through state-controlled media. Now, take the Global Times this morning. There is a piece, and it's all about AI. It's all about the two of them meeting in terms of the new challenges of AI.

And, I mean, it says it pretty clearly in this piece, this meeting is expected to provide new guidance for exploring a model in which competition and cooperation can co-exist.

In these emerging technological fields. Now, you know, they could say something like, well, we're exploring a model, you know, you don't need to say anything that solid. There may, it may well be in the coming hours, we do get some information that says, we've laid the groundwork for the means in which we can further discuss this. But, you know, in this same piece from the Global Times, it is warning that AI is not like any other industry. And the wording is, beyond the scope of conventional technological industries, and I think most people would agree with that. I mean, certainly, these are massive new challenges, not only the global superpowers, but that everyone has to deal with. And I think from the Chinese side, they would hope that they can actually say to their people, Xi Jinping, and say, look, we're at least doing something about this, because I think people here, like in other countries, are worried about AI.

Alex Ritson (4:40)

Yeah, and there has been word said that suggests that Xi Jinping appears to take the risks rather more seriously than Donald Trump.

Stephen MacDonald (4:49)

I think that's a pretty fair analysis. It's certainly the way it's felt here. When you consider that the Chinese government is saying, look, we need more regulation of this, and Donald Trump, who thinks that AI is going to somehow catapult his country ahead of China and maintain its position in the world as economic leader, well, he thinks if you do anything to rein it back in any way, then it can hamper these US companies which are developing AI. But following the huge story we had yesterday, that the Australian government has claimed that AI has hacked a major government department, the one responsible for all the health insurance of Australians. I mean, it's huge that an AI program would do this. It just shows how dangerous it can be, and you imagine what else it's capable of. So, I think around the world the pressure is going to be coming on the US to do something about putting in much stronger guard rails on AI.