Archive · 16 Sep 2026
China Says AI Is Not a Monopoly of Great Powers
China’s main official newspaper said artificial intelligence should not be controlled only by powerful countries.
It said the United States and China should work together to reduce risks from AI.
The newspaper argued that AI should be developed openly and used for broad human benefit.
China said it supports open-source AI and allows some companies, including U.S. companies, to access its open-source models.
The newspaper criticized U.S. concerns about a process called distillation.
Distillation uses the results of a large AI model to help train a smaller one.
China said U.S. companies also use this process and accused the United States of treating Chinese companies differently.
The two countries are expected to discuss AI safety, competition and safeguards at a planned Trump-Xi meeting.
People’s Daily called for U.S.-China cooperation to manage AI risks and create a non-discriminatory development environment.
The newspaper said AI should develop openly and should not become a zero-sum competition between major powers.
China said it supports open-source AI practices and gives companies, including U.S. firms, access to open-source models.
People’s Daily accused the United States of applying double standards to AI model distillation and using national-security concerns to seek an industry advantage.
AI safety, technology competition and possible safeguards are expected to feature in an upcoming meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
- Who
- People’s Daily and the governments of China and the United States are the main parties involved; Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are expected to discuss the issue.
- What
- People’s Daily called for U.S.-China cooperation on AI risks and argued that AI should not become a monopoly of major powers.
- When
- The commentary was published on September 16, ahead of planned bilateral talks the following week.
- Where
- The issue concerns AI development and technology and national-security policy in China-U.S. relations.
- Why
- People’s Daily said AI should be developed openly, inclusively and for broad human benefit rather than treated as a zero-sum competition.
China’s Position
U.S. Concerns and Policy Position
Access to AI development
China’s Position
People’s Daily said AI is a field for all humanity and should be open, inclusive and not controlled by a small number of major powers.
U.S. Concerns and Policy Position
The United States has accused Chinese entities of seeking access to American AI technology and has restricted exports of advanced AI chips to China.
Model distillation
China’s Position
China said U.S. companies extensively use distillation and accused Washington of applying double standards by treating Chinese use of the practice as an attack.
U.S. Concerns and Policy Position
U.S. concerns presented in the articles link Chinese access to AI technology and certain industry practices to national-security risks.
AI safeguards and development pace
China’s Position
China called for discussions on AI safety while opposing approaches it says could restrict open and broadly beneficial development; a Chinese official also warned that AI “fear-mongering” could hamper global governance efforts.
U.S. Concerns and Policy Position
Donald Trump has rejected calls for an AI slowdown and emphasized strong U.S. leadership, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei have called for greater U.S.-China coordination or limits concerning frontier AI risks.
- Publication
- People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party
- Commentary pen name
- “Zhong Sheng,” meaning “Voice of China”
- Countries involved
- China and the United States
- China’s proposal
- Cooperation with the United States to manage AI risks
- China’s stated approach
- Open-source models and open AI development practices
- Disputed practice
- Model distillation, which uses outputs from larger AI models to train smaller ones
- Expected talks
- A planned Trump-Xi meeting is expected to address AI safety, technology competition and possible safeguards
