The US and China now have a hotline for artificial intelligence (AI). The White House announced it on Friday, after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington.
Whether the line slows the AI race is another question. Washington says its own AI push will not ease off.
A Cold War-Style Phone Line for AI
According to the White House document, a new US-China Super Intelligence Dialogue will study the risks and benefits of AI. The first talks are due by November. A separate channel will handle AI incidents.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, explained the channel with a Cold War comparison.
“I think of like the red phone between the Kremlin and the White House during the Cold War,” CBS reported.
Xi said AI should develop “always under human control,” according to CBS.
However, hours before the talks, Trump posted a different message on Truth Social.
“Super Intelligence (SI) will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is. That is China’s position also. Our guardrail is the DOJ!”
Still, talking does not mean slowing down. BeInCrypto reported on September 16 that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had opened AI risk talks with China. At the same time, he insisted the US would not slow its own AI work.
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China Is Closing In on a Fraction of the Money
The spending gap is huge. Stanford’s 2026 AI Index found that private investors put $285.9 billion into American AI in 2025. China’s private total was $12.4 billion. The report notes that government funding would likely push China’s real figure higher.
The performance gap is tiny. As of March, the best US model led its top Chinese rival by just 2.7%, according to Stanford.
Britain Tells Its Own Staff to Use Less AI
The hotline comes as Britain takes the opposite approach at home. Draft guidance on the UK government’s AI Knowledge Hub tells official teams to use AI only when needed. The aim is to cut its environmental impact.
Staff should first ask whether a spreadsheet or search engine can do the job. If they do need AI, they should pick the smallest model that works, such as Gemini Flash over Gemini Pro.
Prompts should be short and few. The guidance even says “you don’t need to say thankyou.” Staff must also check AI answers for accuracy and disclose when AI helped create or edit content.
Trump and Xi meet again in November at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen. The first AI talks are due by then.
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