China demands more controls on AI while Trump sees a "sick conspiracy" in it

BarcelonaThe alarm cry regarding artificial intelligence (AI) that the co-founder of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, launched on Saturday, calling for a slowdown in its development, has shaken the public debate on this issue. Until now, the European Union has been an exception in the world when it comes to regulating AI. While Europe, which currently does not have a strong industry in the sector, is setting limits on certain functions to prevent them from colliding with basic rights, the two world powers, the United States and China, have long been competing head-to-head to lead the development of this technology. And in the midst of this battle and after the warning from the big tech companies, China has redoubled its commitment in recent hours to control its development, calling for the creation of a "safety barrier".

The Minister of State Security, Chen Yixin, has positioned AI as one of the main fields of global technological competition, and has warned of the risks involved in its accelerated development. Specifically, the Chinese minister has called for strengthening the supervision of data, algorithms, computing capacity, and civil and military applications of the technology. Among the threats he has pointed out are the generation of fake content, cyberattacks, data leaks, manipulation of public opinion, disinformation, and the use of artificial intelligence systems for military purposes.

If Europe's efforts are focused on the post that is, on regulating the functions of AI once it has already been created, the message that Beijing is now insisting on aims to place emphasis on the pre, that is, on who, how, and why this technology is created. Far from wanting to slow down its progress, China is asking for the rules of the game to be the same for everyone and for more controls to be established on its development. This Monday, Beijing accused Washington of using the pretext of national security to limit other countries' access to cutting-edge equipment and capabilities developed in the United States, and through the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, has asked that "all parties" collaborate to advance AI in an "open, inclusive, accessible to all, and oriented towards the good" way. Only in this way, it maintains, will it be possible to achieve global governance over AI.

In this sense, in July 29 countries signed an agreement in Shanghai to create the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, an intergovernmental organization aimed at promoting international cooperation and AI governance. While this organization is not yet operational, however, Beijing, despite betting on open technology, maintains tight control over the AI models developed in the country.

Trump speaks of "negative forces"

On the other side of the Pacific, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, showed a completely opposite position this Monday to that of the Asian giant, labeling those who call for regulating this computing tool as "negative forces". For the New York tycoon, the United States is "the most sophisticated country in the world" and it must be "kept that way". In this latest episode, Trump sees a "sick conspiracy" regarding AI and data centers, pointed out for their high environmental cost, and has assured that the US has the power, on its own, to regulate and control AI companies. "The only control or safety mechanism that AI needs is a strong and intelligent president (with a high IQ!), and the US has that in spades!", he wrote on his social network, Truth Social.

The concern expressed by some figures in the technology sector has not changed the American president's mind, who rejects the warnings about the risk of the current accelerated development of AI and argues that the US must maintain global leadership in this area to prevent China from gaining an advantage. "Whoever wins AI, wins", affirmed the American president, who considers that slowing down the development of the technology could harm the position of the US in the competition with Beijing.

While it is true that Washington leads the global race in the field of innovation, Chinese companies such as DeepSeek, Alibaba, Tencent, Moonshot, and Zhipu compete with the large American companies in the sector despite the United States' restrictions on access to certain advanced technologies and some essential chips for developing AI systems. And Trump does not want a possible slowdown in development to become the final push for Beijing to surpass Washington in the technological race.

The UN warns of the risk to human rights

From Europe, Brussels for now chooses to avoid entering fully into the debate. It shows itself in favor of promoting the development of innovation in artificial intelligence, but stresses that companies must demonstrate that their services are safe for citizens to operate within community territory. "The responsibility lies with the companies," assured one of the European Commission spokespersons, Thomas Regnier, this Monday, who also took the opportunity to boast about the European regulatory commitment: "We can say with strength that we are leaders," he asserted. "We have the AI Act and it is fully applied. We are enforcing it."

And amidst the warnings from big tech companies, the UN also launched a warning message this Monday. The United Nations has emphasized the "qualitative leap" that AI is experiencing and the "great existential risks" that this entails, and has made it clear that an unregulated development of this tool puts all human rights at risk, "including the rights to life, food, privacy, health and security," noted the UN High Commissioner Volker Türk.