US, China agree AI talks at September 24 summit, but no depth

The September 24 summit decision to hold talks on AI control sits on top of a deeper split the article describes between the two countries' aims. The United States, which it says is ahead in the competition, is cautious about regulation that would become a drag on technical innovation. China, cast as the pursuer, wants to take the lead in making rules and to create a competitive arena favorable to itself.

The article places Xi Jinping's appeal for AI management during his US visit inside that same logic. It also frames the broader question — how to control artificial intelligence and turn it to humanity's prosperity — as the biggest challenge of this century, and invokes Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a warning about preventing catastrophe.

What the agreed talks can actually achieve looks likely to hinge on whether either side's basic incentive shifts. The US position and China's rule-making ambition are both described as calculations rather than fixed policy, so the forum may be judged less on its launch than on whether anything narrows the distance between the two.