A technology analyst highlighted a potentially dangerous contradiction in President Donald Trump’s strategy for defeating China in the artificial intelligence race.
New York Times technology columnist Kevin Roose told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Wednesday that Trump wants the United States to remain the global AI leader, while some Republicans and administration allies push to loosen restrictions on selling advanced American chips to China.
“It's kind of confusing because on one hand, he is saying that he wants America to win on China,” Roose said. “At the same time, there are some Republicans and people in his orbit who have been pushing for a loosening of the trade restrictions on advanced AI chips to China from companies like Nvidia.”
“To me, I don't quite understand how you can want America to win, but also want to sell China the ingredients to make powerful AI systems,” he added. “But maybe someone else knows how to square that circle.”
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to discuss a proposed fast-track communication channel that would allow their governments to alert each other about serious AI-related security threats, CNN reported.
Roose called that prospect “better than nothing” but also delivered a stark warning.
“It’s not enough to just know that an incident is ongoing,” he said. “You also have to have the infrastructure in place to be able to prevent the incident from happening in the first place.”
Roose’s thoughts on a lasting AI treaty between the two countries were likewise dim: “I wouldn’t hold my breath under this administration.”