U.S., China should ‘harbor no illusions’ as they cooperate, compete on AI, Bessent says

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington and Beijing should “harbor no illusions” as they pursue cooperation and competition on artificial intelligence, speaking after the two countries agreed during President Xi Jinping’s September visit to open an AI dialogue. The agreement establishes a communications channel intended to help defuse serious AI-related incidents between the world’s two largest economies. The initiative matters because AI is emerging as a central arena of U.S.-China rivalry alongside trade and technology restrictions, and a working channel could reduce the risk of miscalculation. What to watch next is whether the dialogue produces concrete protocols for incident reporting and whether it survives broader tensions in the bilateral relationship.