CHINA’S state-backed Global Times has accused Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei of using calls for safer artificial intelligence development as a “Cold War playbook” aimed at curbing China’s AI industry.
In an essay published on Saturday, Amodei proposed a framework to pace the development of frontier AI capabilities and allow more time to address mounting safety risks. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and SpaceX founder Elon Musk later endorsed the proposal.
Amodei also called for the United States to strengthen chip export controls on China and crack down on alleged AI model distillation by Chinese laboratories.
Speaking to CBS News on Sunday, Amodei said the “toughest dilemma” surrounding his proposal would arise if China and other adversarial countries chose not to slow their AI development.
The Global Times said Amodei’s essay was ultimately aimed at restricting China’s AI progress through technological barriers and regulatory restrictions.
It described the proposal as an 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.”
“This ‘silent AI Cold War’ is hypocritical and short-sighted,” the editorial said, arguing 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”.
The dispute comes as US lawmakers push for new rules governing AI systems following warnings from two Anthropic researchers that rapid advances in AI could pose an existential threat to humanity.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday rejected calls to slow AI development, saying “very negative forces” were raising exaggerated concerns.
“We're leading China in AI. We're the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins,” Trump said.
The United States and China are also expected to discuss frontier AI safety risks in mid-September, according to sources, with the issue potentially featuring in a planned Sept 24 summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. - September 14, 2026
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