The United States and China will sit down for AI-focused negotiations in September, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent leading the American delegation. The talks represent the next chapter in a bilateral dialogue that began earlier this year when Bessent traveled to Beijing to lay the groundwork for an AI safety protocol framework.
What’s actually on the table
The core of these discussions centers on restricting access to advanced AI models by non-state actors. Bessent first outlined this framework on May 14 during talks in Beijing. His framing was characteristically direct.
“The reason we are able to have wholesome discussions with the Chinese on AI is because we are in the lead.”
Bessent has also projected that AI advancements could potentially double US productivity, drawing a comparison to the internet boom of the 1990s.
