Tensions between the United States and China over artificial intelligence are escalating after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for tighter restrictions on the sale of advanced AI chips to China, prompting Beijing to accuse Washington of “fearmongering.”
Amodei warned on Saturday that the pace of development of the most powerful AI systems should be slowed, arguing that they could pose serious risks to humanity in the near future.
In an essay, he wrote that AI capabilities are advancing rapidly and warned that within six to 12 months, a group operating such systems could potentially take control of the entire internet, causing losses worth hundreds of billions of dollars. He also cautioned that the damage could become even greater as AI systems grow more powerful without adequate safeguards.
Amodei’s concerns have received support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Trump Rejects Calls to Slow AI Development
US President Donald Trump, however, rejected calls to slow the development of AI.
“We are ahead of China in AI,” Trump said on Sunday. “Whoever wins AI wins everything.”
China has strongly criticized the push for tougher restrictions.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday that creating threats and engaging in conflict and hostile competition would hinder global efforts to govern AI and would not benefit any side.
The state-backed Global Times described Amodei’s proposal as a “Cold War tactic,” arguing that its real objective is to prevent China from advancing its AI capabilities and preserve US technological dominance.
The newspaper called the emerging competition a “silent AI Cold War” and described it as hypocritical and short-sighted.
US Still Leads, but China Is Closing the Gap
Experts say the United States remains ahead in the AI race, although China is rapidly narrowing the gap.
According to Stanford University’s 2026 AI Index report, US companies invested $285.9 billion in AI in 2025, compared with $12.4 billion in China. The United States also retains an advantage in advanced semiconductor chips, which are crucial for developing and training cutting-edge AI systems.
But Chinese companies have demonstrated that they can build capable AI models despite limited access to the most advanced chips.
The launch of Chinese startup DeepSeek in January triggered a sharp decline in the share prices of several US technology companies. DeepSeek claimed that its models were developed at a fraction of the cost of competing systems.
In a research paper published in December, DeepSeek said its latest model required less than $6 million worth of computing resources for training. By comparison, training OpenAI’s GPT-4 reportedly cost more than $100 million.
AI Race Extends Into Military and Security Sectors
Although both Washington and Beijing portray themselves as responsible actors in AI development, both countries are increasingly using the technology for military and national-security purposes.
In June, the Trump administration ordered an acceleration of AI adoption across US intelligence and military operations. The US military also acknowledged in March that it had used AI during its war against Iran.
Aya Ibrahim, a senior visiting fellow at the AI Now Institute, told Al Jazeera that framing AI development as a race is itself part of the problem.
“The idea of a race is fundamentally problematic,” she said, arguing that it risks turning AI development into a competition in which countries rush toward increasingly dangerous capabilities.
The question, she suggested, is not simply who wins the AI race, but what price is ultimately paid for that victory.
