President Donald Trump ruled out cooperation with China on artificial intelligence, telling reporters Sept. 26 that America leads Beijing by "at least a year, and maybe a year and a half."
"I'm not looking to open it up," Trump said, referring to collaboration on AI development. He confirmed discussing the emerging technology with Chinese leader Xi Jinping the previous week.
During those talks, Trump said he and Xi discussed the term "super intelligence." Trump prefers that designation over "artificial intelligence," arguing that "artificial means it's fake, and it's not fake. It's very strong intelligence. I call it SI."
Trump dismissed concerns about AI misuse as "a hoax," saying such fears would benefit America's adversaries. "The United States of America is not going to be putting on brake," he said. "They want to stop our progress, because we're leading China by a lot, and we're going to keep it that way."
He added, "There is nobody in third place" in the global AI race.
China's foreign ministry responded Sept. 26, acknowledging Washington's adoption of the "super intelligence" term. The ministry said it "attaches great importance" to and "respects" the shift in terminology—the first time Beijing publicly addressed Trump's new framing.
Chinese officials approach AI differently than Washington policymakers. While U.S. debates center on existential risks to humanity, China's leadership focuses on threats to Communist Party control. Chen Yixin, China's spy chief, warned in a Sept. 13 article in the official Cyberspace magazine that AI poses "direct threats to China's political security, institutional security, and ideological security." He called for tighter Party control over AI development and deployment.
