China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday responded to an essay by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, which called for the United States to maintain restrictions on China’s artificial intelligence capabilities. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun described the calls for containment as "fearmongering" during a press conference, stating that confrontation and competition would disrupt global AI governance.
The exchange occurred as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping prepared for a scheduled meeting on September 24. The two leaders are expected to discuss AI governance, a topic of increasing friction as both nations seek to avoid "tech chokepoints" while developing advanced computing models.
In his Saturday essay, Amodei argued that a Chinese lead in AI would pose a "grave danger" to the U.S. and recommended continuing restrictions on the sale of advanced AI chips and chipmaking equipment to China. He also warned that AI "agents" could potentially take over the internet within six to 12 months unless global researchers agree to slow development, noting that such a slowdown would require cooperation from China.
The U.S. government recently increased scrutiny of Chinese AI practices. Last week, the FBI, National Security Agency, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued an advisory accusing Chinese developers of "distilling" capabilities from U.S. models like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT through "malicious" efforts. China’s Commerce Ministry dismissed these claims as groundless, stating that distillation is a common industry practice and accusing the U.S. of seeking a "monopoly."
The scale of the impact involves the global semiconductor and AI industries, which represent billions of dollars in annual trade. If the U.S. continues to restrict chipmaking equipment, it affects the manufacturing capacity of Chinese firms and the revenue of American hardware exporters. On a household level, Amodei’s prediction suggests that every person using the internet could notice changes in digital security or functionality within six to 12 months if AI "agents" proliferate as he described.
The knock-on effects include the potential for a fragmented global AI framework. While the U.S. emphasizes security and containment, China’s Xi Jinping has proposed a framework for the "Global South" and an open-source AI community. These competing visions could set precedents for how international law handles automated systems and data privacy. The next major step is the meeting between Trump and Xi on September 24, where officials will attempt to address these governance issues directly.