Trump urged to address AI risks in meeting with Xi Jinping, drawing parallels to nuclear arms talks

Senator Chris Coons wants President Trump to put artificial intelligence at the top of the agenda when he next sits down with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Delaware Democrat framed the stakes in terms usually reserved for warheads, not algorithms: he compared the need for AI cooperation to the nuclear arms negotiations that defined Cold War diplomacy. Coons made the case during a Bloomberg interview on September 13, arguing that the rapid pace of AI development has left legislators scrambling to keep up. Pausing AI research unilaterally, he said, is a fantasy given the competitive dynamics between Washington and Beijing. The only realistic path forward, in his view, is a framework both countries can agree to. The chip gap and the legislation behind it The senator’s argument rests partly on raw production numbers. The US currently produces over 10 million advanced AI chips annually. China, by contrast, manufactures roughly 200,000. That’s a 50-to-1 ratio, and Coons wants to keep it that way. He has championed the SAFE Chips Act, legislation designed to codify restrictions on exporting advanced AI semiconductors to China. The bill would formalize what has until now been a patchwo...