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President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met up in Peru over the weekend for a wide-ranging discussion that included both world leaders agreeing to each other's AI principles, including that only humans should control nuclear weapons.
After the meeting, the White House and China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs published separate summaries of the event. Both stated that Biden and Jinping had a "constructive" conversation about AI and concluded that more international cooperation is needed to make sure AI is good for everyone. They also both agreed that humans, not AI, should be in control of nuclear weapons. The White House also said that both countries believe it's important that any AI for military purposes is developed with great caution.
The relationship is not without strife. DJI is suing the US for adding it to a "Chinese military companies" list, which aims to prevent the Chinese government from accessing advanced technology under the disguise of a civilian operation. China has also reportedly used an open-source Llama AI model from Meta to make a military intelligence AI bot.
Both countries have also accused each other of conducting cyberattacks.
President Biden "raised deep concerns about ongoing PRC cyberattacks targeting civilian critical infrastructure and threatening the safety and security of Americans," the White House statement says. In its own statement, China says, "There is no evidence that supports the irrational claim of the so-called 'cyberattacks from China.' China itself is a target of international cyberattacks, and consistently opposes and combats all forms of cyberattacks."
Some Chinese hacking groups are believed to be "state-sponsored," meaning they have ties to the Chinese government or target China's opponents. A hacking group known as Salt Typhoon has been tied to breaches at T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T intended to access the phones of high-level officials, including President-elect Donald Trump.
Chinese hackers have also been accused of spear-phishing OpenAI staff and using botnets for hacking, among other activities.
The US and Chinese accounts of the Biden-Xi meeting seem mostly positive and in support of peace overall, though China warns that "a new Cold War should not be fought and cannot be won. Containing China is unwise, unacceptable, and bound to fail."