US and China prepare for mid-September AI safety dialogue

The United States and China are preparing to sit down for their first dedicated AI safety dialogue since Donald Trump began his second term, with talks scheduled for mid-September 2026. The meeting, announced on September 4, signals a rare patch of cooperative ground between two countries that agree on almost nothing else right now. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will lead the American delegation. The talks are expected to focus on shared risks tied to AI technologies, with cyberattacks driven by autonomous AI systems near the top of the agenda. How this came together The groundwork for this meeting was laid at the Trump-Xi summit in May 2026, where both leaders agreed to restart formal AI discussions. That agreement ended a gap of roughly two years since the last dedicated US-China AI dialogue, which took place in Geneva in May 2024. Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to meet Trump in Washington on September 24, putting the AI safety dialogue just days before a broader bilateral summit. Beijing tends to treat technical working-level talks as scaffolding for higher-stakes diplomatic moments, and the proximity to the Washington summit suggests both sides see these AI dis...