China state media attacks Anthropic AI slowdown proposal

China's state-backed Global Times has sharply criticized an essay by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calling for slower AI development, characterizing it as a geopolitical strategy disguised as safety advocacy.

The editorial, published Monday, accused Amodei of pursuing a "silent AI Cold War" aimed at maintaining U.S. technological dominance while excluding China from global AI governance frameworks.

The Anthropic proposal

Amodei's essay, published Saturday and subsequently endorsed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, outlined a framework to slow the pace of frontier AI model development. The proposal cited mounting safety risks as justification for the deceleration.

Beyond the safety argument, Amodei urged the U.S. government to strengthen chip export controls targeting China and crack down on alleged model distillation practices by Chinese AI laboratories. In a CBS News interview Sunday, he acknowledged the "toughest dilemma" of his proposal: the possibility that China and other nations might continue advancing AI capabilities regardless of U.S. restraint.

China's response

The Global Times editorial dismissed Amodei's safety rationale as cover for a containment strategy. The newspaper argued the true agenda was "to attempt to curb China's AI development through technological barriers and regulatory monopolies, uphold Washington's monopolistic hegemony in cutting-edge technology, and exclude China from the global AI governance system."

The editorial characterized the approach as "hypocritical and short-sighted," warning that excluding China from global AI innovation would "significantly increase the trial-and-error costs and risks of loss of control in global AI development."

Why it matters

The exchange reveals how AI safety debates are becoming inseparable from U.S.-China technological competition. What researchers frame as existential risk management, Beijing interprets as strategic containment. This dynamic complicates efforts to establish international AI governance frameworks, as technical safety discussions carry geopolitical weight that makes cooperation more difficult. The clash also highlights a fundamental tension: whether slowing AI development in one country creates safety benefits or simply cedes competitive advantage.

Political context

The controversy comes as U.S. lawmakers consider new AI regulations following warnings from two Anthropic researchers about catastrophic risks from rapidly advancing AI systems. President Trump dismissed calls to slow AI development Sunday, saying "very negative forces" were raising exaggerated concerns. "We're leading China in AI," Trump said. "Whoever wins AI wins."

The U.S. and China are planning discussions on frontier AI safety risks in mid-September, according to sources cited in the report. The issue may surface during a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping scheduled for September 24.

These details were first reported by Reuters correspondent Laurie Chen.