US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said Washington will engage with China on setting AI guardrails and best practices, while ensuring innovation in the sector is not hindered, CNBC reported.
Speaking to the US broadcaster during President Donald Trump's ongoing visit to Beijing, Bessent said the world's “two AI superpowers” are preparing to establish protocols to prevent advanced artificial intelligence models from falling into the hands of non-state actors.
“We are going to discuss AI guardrails with China,” Bessent said, adding that the US is comfortable holding such discussions because it remains ahead in the AI race. “China is substantially behind us on AI, but advanced,” he noted.
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According to CNBC, Bessent also highlighted the rapidly growing capabilities of AI systems being developed by companies such as OpenAI, Google and Anthropic.
He said the US government considers the “big three AI players” to be strong partners in shaping responsible AI development.
The remarks come amid growing concern in Washington over increasingly powerful AI models.
The reported also stated that Anthropic's new “Mythos” model has raised alarms because of its alleged advanced cyberattack capabilities, though the company plans to initially release it only to select business partners.
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Bessent stressed that while safeguards are necessary, the Trump administration does not want to “stifle AI innovation.” He also hinted at major advancements in upcoming large language models from Google Gemini and OpenAI.
The comments came alongside wider US-China discussions on trade, semiconductors and Taiwan during the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing.
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