China dismisses AI slowdown calls and blasts ‘fearmongering’ from U.S. tech leaders

The World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai last year. Ying Tang / NurPhoto via Add NBC News to Google Sept. 14, 2026, AM EDT — China has dismissed urgent calls to slow down the development of AI, rejecting the grave warnings as a bid to hobble the progress of America’s rival superpower rather than safeguard humanity’s future. Beijing on Monday dismissed the intervention from U. S. tech leaders as “fearmongering” and part of a “Cold War playbook.” It’s the latest sign that competition between the two countries could outweigh mounting safety concerns, after President Donald Trump also rebuffed the warnings from industry leaders and said his focus was on beating China on artificial intelligence. The comments followed a lengthy essay published Saturday . Amodei said that companies should deliberately “slow the pace” at which they improve their models given the potential risks. He also said that a “Chinese lead in AI would pose grave danger for the United States and the world,” and called for the U. S. to restrict sales of key tech to China. That message was not welcomed by Beijing. “Fearmongering, confrontation and malicious competition will only disrupt the process of global AI governance and serve no one’s interests,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters at a regular news briefing Monday. The state-run Global Times newspaper had a more blunt tone Sunday, blasting the call for an industrywide slowdown as “packed with containment provisions targeting China and is, in essence, a ‘Cold War playbook’ for the AI sector.” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay on his website over the weekend titled "We Must Pace the Frontier." Krisztian Bocsi / Bloomberg via fileAI has advanced at a breakneck speed, with models rapidly getting smarter, faster and cheaper. They have also frequently outpaced technical safeguards, fueling security fears. Those fears have now reached a peak but also exposed just how far apart Beijing and Washington seem to be on cooperating to address them. Amodei himself likened the situation to the Cold War arms race, telling CBS’ “‘Sunday Morning” that the two sides should work together but that he didn’t hold out much hope. Altman similarly said on X late Sunday that “where we will need the help of our government is for international coordination.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said his company would adopt one of Amodei’s proposed safeguards. Kyle Grillot / Bloomberg / Getty ImagesBut that might not be compatible with Trump’s approach. “We’re leading China in AI.