Trump rejects combining US-China AI efforts

The US president said the country should not cooperate with China on the technology despite growing concerns.

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press at the White House in Washington, DC, on Saturday [Alex Wroblewski/AFP]

United States President Donald Trump has said the country will not be heeding growing calls to regulate the development of artificial intelligence.

On Saturday, as he departed the White House, Trump told reporters the US “is not going to be putting on brakes” for AI, even as US lawmakers and CEOs of some of the nation’s largest tech firms agreed on the need to slow its pace, citing its potential to put humanity at risk.

list 1 of 3 US and China presidents discuss cooperation, trade and AI risks

list 2 of 3 When AI’s moving this fast, who’s protecting us?

list 3 of 3 Trump hails ‘very productive’ talks with China’s Xi Jinping

The president likened those fears to other issues he has previously claimed are “hoaxes”, including climate change and the investigation that examined whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russian operatives.

“When they wanna put on brakes, it’s just like everybody’s going to be dead. You’re all supposed to be dead now, because of global warming. It’s like Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. All of these different hoaxes,” Trump said.

“What they wanna do is stop our progress, because we’re leading China by a lot,” he added. “And we’re going to keep it that way.”

Trump, who just concluded a 3-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, said the US should not cooperate with China on the technology.

“I would rather not integrate, because we’re leading by a lot,” he said. “When you’re leading, you don’t open it up to each other.”

During his final address before the United Nations General Assembly, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged leaders on Tuesday to enact guardrails on AI, warning that unchecked development “without accountability” could put the world at risk.

US lawmakers and experts had hoped Trump and Xi would use their meeting to deliver a breakthrough agreement on AI. But that did not materialise.

“We didn’t spend that much time talking about it,” Trump said.

As criticism rippled through Washington — and around the world — over the squandered opportunity, the White House on Friday said the US and China agreed to establish a “bilateral communication channel” for AI incidents. There was no immediate comment from Beijing on the White House statement.

The president, however, indicated that any AI discussions he had with Xi, who is set to meet with Trump two more times this year, largely focused on his preferred name for the technology: “super intelligence”.

China “respects” Washington’s switch in phrasing from artificial intelligence to “super intelligence”, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday, after Donald Trump said Xi appeared to like the rewording.

The US president announced on Tuesday that his administration would rename AI as “super intelligence”, or SI, in official communications.

“Artificial intelligence technologies are continuously developing, all parties can strengthen exchanges, discuss in-depth and seek consensus in light of the latest situation,” said a statement from an unidentified Chinese ministry spokesperson.

When it comes to AI, Xi has taken a more measured tone than Trump and said the technology must develop under human control.

尽管担忧日益加剧，美国总统仍表示美国不应与中国在该技术领域进行合作。

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周六在华盛顿特区白宫向媒体发表讲话。[Alex Wroblewski/AFP]

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普表示，美国不会理会日益高涨的、要求监管人工智能发展的呼声。

周六，特朗普离开白宫时告诉记者，美国“不会放慢”人工智能的发展步伐，尽管美国立法者和一些美国最大科技公司的首席执行官都同意有必要放慢人工智能的发展速度，理由是人工智能有可能危及人类。

（共3篇，这是第1篇）美中两国总统讨论合作、贸易和人工智能风险

列表 2/3：当人工智能发展如此迅速时，谁来保护我们？

特朗普称赞与中国国家主席习近平的会谈“富有成效”（共3条）

总统将这些担忧比作他之前声称是“骗局”的其他问题，包括气候变化以及对他 2016 年竞选活动是否与俄罗斯特工勾结的调查。

“他们一旦想踩刹车，就好像所有人都要死了一样。你们现在都应该死了，因为全球变暖。这就像俄罗斯、俄罗斯、俄罗斯的骗局。各种各样的骗局，”特朗普说道。

“他们想阻止我们前进，因为我们目前遥遥领先于中国，”他补充道。“我们会继续保持这种领先优势。”

刚刚结束与中国国家主席习近平为期三天峰会的特朗普表示，美国不应该在技术领域与中国合作。

“我宁愿不进行融合，因为我们遥遥领先，”他说。“当你领先时，你就不会向彼此敞开大门。”

联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯周二在联合国大会上发表最后一次讲话时，敦促各国领导人对人工智能制定监管措施，并警告说，不受控制的“缺乏问责制”的发展可能会使世界陷入危险。

美国议员和专家曾希望特朗普和习近平能利用此次会晤在人工智能领域达成突破性协议，但这一愿望并未实现。

“我们没花太多时间讨论这个问题，”特朗普说。

眼见错失良机，批评之声在华盛顿乃至全世界蔓延，白宫周五表示，美中两国已同意建立人工智能事件“双边沟通渠道”。北京方面尚未就白宫声明作出回应。

然而，总统表示，他与习近平就人工智能进行的任何讨论（习近平今年还将与特朗普会面两次）主要集中在习近平对这项技术的偏好名称上：​​“超级智能”。

中国外交部周六表示，中国“尊重”华盛顿将人工智能的表述改为“超级智能”，此前唐纳德·特朗普称习近平似乎喜欢这一措辞上的改变。

美国总统周二宣布，他的政府将在官方文件中将人工智能更名为“超级智能”（或SI）。

“人工智能技术不断发展，各方可以根据最新形势加强交流、深入讨论并寻求共识，”一位不愿透露姓名的中国外交部发言人在一份声明中表示。

在人工智能问题上，习近平的态度比特朗普更为谨慎，他表示这项技术必须在人类的控制下发展。