A State editorial calls the suggestion hypocritical; China’s intelligence chief warns: AI heightens cyber and political risks amid US–China rivalry

China has condemned Dario Amodei’s proposal to slow frontier AI development, calling it a “Cold War playbook” aimed at holding back Beijing’s technological progress..

The criticism appeared in a state-backed Global Times editorial published 14 September 2026, even as a separate warning from China’s top intelligence official highlighted Beijing’s own concerns about the dangers of rapid AI advancement.

The sharp rebuke from Beijing comprises the following events:

  • The Global Times described Amodei’s call for a deliberate deceleration in AI model improvements as “hypocritical and short-sighted,” arguing its real purpose is to erect technological barriers and regulatory monopolies that preserve US dominance while excluding China from global AI governance. The editorial warned that shutting China out of worldwide AI innovation would raise the costs and risks of trial-and-error development, potentially increasing the chance of loss of control over advanced systems. In interviews, Amodei had said the “toughest dilemma” for his proposal is the prospect that China and other adversarial nations would not follow a voluntary slowdown. He also called on Washington to tighten chip export controls on China and crack down on suspected model distillation by Chinese AI labs.
  • China’s State Security Minister Chen Yixin has issued one of Beijing’s most detailed official warnings about AI risks. Writing in a a journal run by the Cyberspace Administration of China, Chen said AI has become “a new arena for strategic rivalry among major powers” and could threaten political security, critical infrastructure, and ideological stability. He noted that progress in frontier models could lower the threshold for carrying out cyberattacks. Proposing the building of a “security barrier” around AI while still seizing its opportunities, Chen is reflecting a tension within Beijing between the desire to lead in the technology and fears about its destabilizing potential.

Diverging responses in Washington

In Washington, President Trump on 13 September 2026 had dismissed calls to slow AI development, saying “very negative forces” were exaggerating the risks. “We’re leading China in AI,” Trump said. “Whoever wins AI wins.”

According to Reuters news, the US and China are slated this month to hold their first official bilateral discussions focused exclusively on AI safety, and the issue could come up during a summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled for September 24.