US, China discuss AI safety ahead of Trump-Xi summit

US and Chinese economic officials discussed creating a communication channel for AI concerns at meetings Sunday as they set the stage for a summit of the countries' top leaders this week. "We just had a very successful engagement with the Chinese on trade and AI," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters after long talks with a team led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. The talks are a prelude to a planned White House meeting on Thursday of the leaders of the world's two biggest economies: US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The discussions, which also included the top US trade official Jamieson Greer, lasted around eight hours at JPMorgan Chase's headquarters in New York. Bessant said the two sides discussed setting up a way to communicate about AI issues called the "US-China AI dialogue." "The US has proposed that we have a notification mechanism between the two countries," Bessent said. Such notifications are for potential "incidents," or a situation "that rises up to a national security level from AI," he said, adding that both sides have agreed to meet again. Bessent and He also spoke one-on-one during the day, a source familiar with the matt...