Scott Bessent says China won’t disclose AI incidents, pushes for bilateral notification system

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has put a sharp point on something Washington has long suspected: China would not voluntarily disclose if it experienced significant AI incidents. The statement, made during discussions with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York on September 20, 2026, frames the core problem that a proposed bilateral AI notification mechanism is meant to solve. The talks concluded with both sides exploring a system where the US and China would notify each other about national security-level AI incidents. What Bessent is actually proposing The notification mechanism would create a formalized channel for the world’s two largest AI developers to flag serious incidents to each other. Bessent framed the goal as building a “shared vision for common goals and threats” between the US and China on artificial intelligence. This isn’t a proposal that materialized out of thin air. It builds on earlier discussions between President Trump and President Xi from May 2026, where establishing a broader “US-China AI dialogue” was first floated. One notable carve-out: export controls on advanced AI chips are explicitly excluded from the proposed dialogue. The bigger picture: di...