Photo courtesy of Anadolu
China pushed back Monday against warnings over rapidly advancing artificial intelligence after several prominent technology executives called for tighter safeguards and a slower pace in developing the most powerful AI systems.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said advances in AI affected people worldwide and should be pursued through international cooperation that keeps the technology open, inclusive and broadly accessible.
Guo argued that alarmist rhetoric, confrontation and harmful competition could undermine international efforts to establish effective rules for AI.
His comments came in response to questions about Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and other technology executives who have raised concerns about the speed at which increasingly capable AI models are being developed.
Amodei recently called for developers to slow progress at the technological frontier while governments and companies strengthen measures intended to address potential risks. He also identified China’s growing AI capabilities as a US security concern.
Elon Musk supported Amodei’s broader warning, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the appropriate pace of frontier AI development had become an important subject of discussion within his company. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis also described Amodei’s proposal as pointing in the right direction.
Concerns surrounding frontier AI include the possibility that increasingly capable systems could facilitate sophisticated cyberattacks or biological threats, disrupt employment and economic activity, or eventually become difficult for humans to control.
The debate highlights a widening tension in global AI policy between accelerating innovation and imposing safeguards before systems become significantly more capable, with competition among companies and major economies adding pressure to continue developing increasingly powerful models.