Business

Trump, Xi to huddle in China as AI race heats up

Comments:

by Miranda Nazzaro and Mallory Wilson - 05/12/26 5:29 PM ET

Comments:

Link copied

by Miranda Nazzaro and Mallory Wilson - 05/12/26 5:29 PM ET

Comments:

Link copied

NOW PLAYING

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have the rare chance this week to directly discuss artificial intelligence as both countries race to dominate the field while managing the risks of advanced models.

The talks come at a pivotal time for the Trump administration, as new models like Anthropic’s Mythos force the White House to rethink its AI policy.

After laying out a pro-innovation approach that focused on staying ahead of China during the start of his term, Trump and top advisers have grown more concerned about the potential safety risks of new AI models.

Technology policy experts are watching closely for how this pivot could influence this week’s bilateral talks, along with potential discussions over chip exports, competition and a new communications channel between the countries.

“The name of the game is coordination, not cooperation,” said Ryan Fedasiuk, a fellow for China and technology at the American Enterprise Institute and a former adviser for U.S.-China bilateral affairs at the State Department.

“It’s impossible to ignore the reality that AI systems have become incredibly capable,” Fedasiuk told The Hill, adding, “Both countries face a pressure from the public to take AI seriously because it’s a serious issue in May 2026, where it had been kind of a novelty throughout 2025.”

White House officials suggested on Sunday talks about AI could include ways to open up a communications channel for the two nations to discuss technology developments.

“Like in many areas of intense focus for the US and China, it’s good to have a channel of communication,” a second official said, adding, “What that channel of communication looks like and its formality … is yet to be determined. But we want to take this opportunity with the leaders meeting to open up a conversation and see if we should establish a channel of communication on AI matters.”

The move would be a first for the Trump administration. Former President Biden’s administration launched an official AI dialogue with China in 2023.

Tech policy experts told The Hill that while renewing talks is positive, they aren’t holding their breath given the history of distrust between the two nations.

Chris McGuire, who led U.S.-China AI policy at the National Security Council in the Biden administration, said China has so far shown an unwillingness to “negotiate in good faith.”

While the U.S. sent technical experts to China to discuss shared AI risks during the Biden administration, the Chinese government was more concerned about U.S. export controls on AI chips, said McGuire, who is now a senior fellow for China and emerging technologies at the Council for Foreign Relations.

“It’s important to lay the groundwork for that kind of dialogue in the future, because we are going to need to ask it,” McGuire said, adding the Trump administration must ask, “What is the most effective way to get the Chinese to negotiate in good faith?”

A White House official confirmed to The Hill that Trump is “The President is “planning to discuss AI during his visit to China” and asserted that the U.S. is “leading the world in the AI race.”

Mythos’s arrival looms in background

Trump heads to China amid a drastically different technology landscape than his last state visit in 2017.

“The best AI model in 2017 was barely able to conceive grammatically correct sentences, if it could even do that,” McGuire said. “Now, we’re talking about AI fundamentally replacing large amounts of human work.”

As AI models rapidly advance, so do fears about their capabilities. Fedasiuk said the meeting “could not arrive at a less opportune time,” following Anthropic’s limited release of the Mythos cybersecurity model last month.

The model, according to Anthropic, is moving the cyber risks of AI from the hypothetical to real life. The AI firm says Mythos can spot decades-old vulnerabilities, giving hackers the ability to easily target U.S. banks, government or other software in breaches.

Mythos’ release rattled the Trump administration, which typically prioritized the U.S.’s competitive standing over AI safety risks, though it doesn’t appear there is a consensus yet on how to address concerns.

A second senior U.S. official seemingly pointed to these fears, telling reporters AI is a “rapidly evolving sector” and the administration “has security concerns.”

“I would not be surprised if the leaders touched on some of those concerns,” the official sai