As AI grows more powerful, a US-China feud threatens safety efforts
Growing geopolitical tensions between the United States and China are straining international cooperation on AI safety, at a moment when the technology is becoming significantly more capable. The rivalry risks fragmenting the coordination that researchers and policymakers say is needed to manage the most serious risks from advanced AI systems.
Why this matters: The countries building the most powerful AI systems are not talking to each other about what happens when something goes wrong. That is not an abstract problem. Serious AI risks do not stop at borders. If the US and China treat safety coordination as a concession to the other side, the people who lose are everyone else. Competition on capability with no shared floor on safety is a genuinely bad combination. Someone has to be responsible for the outcome, and right now that accountability is missing.
Who should care: General readers · AI governance · Policy
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