Trump Rejects Merging US-China AI Efforts After Xi Summit

Donald Trump said on September 26 that the United States should not combine its artificial intelligence efforts with China, after concluding a three-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, and announced that his administration would rename AI as "super intelligence", or SI, in official communications.¹³

Trump on US leadership in AI

Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House, Trump said opponents of continued AI development want to halt US progress because America is far ahead of China. He suggested critics simply want to block American gains since the US is well out in front of China and intends to stay there. He noted that the topic took up only a small part of his conversation with Xi.¹³

Trump said he would rather not integrate AI efforts with China given the US lead. "I would rather not integrate because we're leading by a lot," he said, adding that a leading party does not open its work up to a rival: "When you're leading, you don't open it up to each other."³

According to The Hindu, Trump made the remarks despite what he described as a substantial exchange with Xi on the subject. "We had a big talk on SI," he said.³

Renaming AI as 'super intelligence'

Trump announced that his administration would use the term "super intelligence", or SI, instead of artificial intelligence in official communications. He said Xi appeared to favour the new terminology, writing, "Like almost everyone else, (Xi) seemed to like calling the poorly and inaccurately named Artificial Intelligence to a far more accurate and important name, SUPER INTELLIGENCE."¹²

China's foreign ministry responded that Beijing respects the US side's wording. "Regarding the artificial intelligence phrasing question, the Chinese side attaches importance to the US side's position and respects the US side's wording," a ministry spokesperson said, adding that parties could continue to seek consensus as the technology evolves: "Artificial intelligence technologies are continuously developing, all parties can strengthen exchanges, discuss in-depth and seek consensus in light of the latest situation."²⁵¹

According to The Straits Times, Beijing has neither confirmed nor disputed Trump's version of how extensively AI was discussed by the two leaders during the summit.²

No breakthrough, but a communication channel

According to Al Jazeera, US lawmakers and experts had hoped the summit would produce a breakthrough agreement on AI, but no such agreement materialised. The White House said instead that the US and China had agreed to establish a "bilateral communication channel" for AI incidents, though Beijing offered no immediate comment on that specific statement.¹

The Associated Press reported that Washington had put forward, ahead of the summit, a plan to alert each other about AI-related incidents with national security implications, an idea that emerged from discussions between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. That earlier proposal fed into a narrower safety channel announced after the summit concluded.⁴

Trump also told reporters the US would not curb AI development despite calls from US lawmakers and CEOs of major US technology firms, who have cited AI's potential risk to humanity as a reason to slow its pace, according to Al Jazeera. Trump likened these calls for restraint to other issues he has previously brushed off as exaggerated, including climate change and the inquiry into alleged Russian interference in his 2016 campaign, saying that critics urging caution act as if catastrophe were imminent. He argued that predictions of doom over global warming never came true. "It's like Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. All of these different hoaxes."¹

Al Jazeera also reported that UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on global leaders to put safeguards around AI, cautioning that developing it without oversight could endanger the world. Xi is set to meet Trump two more times this year, according to the same report.¹