Here’s how the US and China can see eye-to-eye on AI regulation

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Earlier this month, OpenAI released its most-advanced models yet, saying they had the ability to “reason" and solve complex math and coding problems. The leading AI startup, valued at some $150 billion, also acknowledged that they raised the risk artificial intelligence (AI) could be misused to create biological weapons.

You would think the potential of such a consequential outcome would raise alarm bells that stricter oversight of AI is critical. But despite almost two years of existential warnings from industry leaders, academics and other experts about the technology’s potential to wreak havoc, the US hasn’t enacted any federal regulation. A chorus of voices inside and outside the tech industry dismisses doomsday warnings as distractions from AI’s more near-term harms, such as potential copyright infringement, deepfakes and misinformation, or job displacement.

But lawmakers have done little to address these too. One core argument levelled against regulation is that it will impede innovation and could result in the US losing the AI race to China. But China has been rapidly advancing in spite of heavy oversight—and all-out US efforts to block it from accessing critical components and equipment.

US export controls have hampered China’s progress, but one area where it leads the US has been in setting standards for how the most sweeping technology of our time can be created and used. China’s autocratic regime find its easy to impose tough rules, as suffocating as they may seem for its tech industry. Beijing has different motives, including retention of social stability and party power, but also sees AI as a priority and is working with the private sector to boost innovation under its