President Donald Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing today. Trade and geopolitics top the agenda, but technology is a key undercurrent. Trump's delegation includes Apple CEO Tim Cook and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Notably, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is not on the guest list.
Sources indicate the talks will focus less on semiconductors and more on the use of artificial intelligence in modern warfare, especially after recent conflicts in Gaza and Iran. David Leslie of The Alan Turing Institute says AI-enabled warfare and the US role in Taiwan tensions are "big top shelf items."
The summit follows the release of Anthropic's powerful cyber-focused AI model Mythos, which the company says poses "unprecedented cybersecurity risks." This highlights a key US-China tension: frontier AI models exposing national security vulnerabilities.
China has closed the AI gap with the US, according to Stanford's AI Index. The US leads in capital and chips; China wins in patents and robotics. While the US takes a company-led approach, Beijing mandates 70% AI penetration in key industries by 2027.
Complex interdependencies remain. China controls rare earth minerals critical for US technology and military stockpiles. Any Trump attempt to ease chip export restrictions faces resistance from his national security team, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.