US proposes AI safety notification mechanism in talks with China

US and Chinese officials have concluded talks in New York, with Washington proposing a new mechanism for sharing information about serious artificial intelligence threats.

The talks, held ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week, ended on Sunday after about eight hours, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling the discussions “very successful”.

Bessent met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and China’s chief trade negotiator Li Chenggang also taking part.

“We think that, just like with any cross-border activity, that moving from opaque to more transparency between the number one and the number two AI powers in the world is very important,” Bessent said.

The meeting was aimed at preparing for the Trump-Xi summit in Washington, but no other major agreement was announced.

Bessent said Washington had proposed a US-China AI dialogue that would include a notification system for incidents serious enough to raise national security concerns.

He said greater transparency was important between the world’s two leading AI powers, arguing that both sides should have a way to communicate over “common goals and common threats”.

Greer said export controls on advanced AI chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment were not part of the proposed mechanism.

Bloomberg quoted Li as saying the discussions took place in a good atmosphere and that a working group would continue talks on Monday.

Chinese state media reported on Monday that China ⁠and ⁠the US had “frank, in-depth, and constructive exchanges” ⁠on important economic and trade matters, ⁠including dialogue on issues related to artificial intelligence.

The two sides also discussed plans to put into effect a process agreed in May for identifying non-strategic goods that could qualify for lower tariffs.

Greer said possible Chinese exports could include consumer and other low-tech goods, while US products could include energy, agricultural goods and medical devices.

The talks took place as a fragile US-China trade truce approaches its November 10 expiry.

The agreement, reached in Busan, South Korea, in October last year, capped US tariffs on Chinese goods at about 20 percent after a tit-for-tat trade fight briefly pushed levies into the triple digits.

Washington has also pressed Beijing over supplies of rare-earth magnets and other critical minerals used in industries ranging from cars to advanced semiconductors.

Bessent and Greer announced no new progress on that issue after Sunday’s meeting.