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US Firms Call for AI Guardrails, but Concerns Remain Over US-China Tech Race

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By Patrick Chen/John Van Trieste

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The leaders of US AI firms are calling for guardrails amid growing concerns the quickly developing tech could harm humanity. But in Washington, there are are also concerns about the stakes of falling behind rival China.

AI researcher Jacob Coxon was not the first industry insider to express concerns about the emerging tech’s impact on humans. But with his decision to quit Anthropic, there’s fresh attention on what AI’s rapid growth could mean...

Coxon warns fears of AI-driven extinction are not fringe concerns. He says people inside major AI companies privately assign real odds to that possibility ... with some estimating the risk above 10% in the next ten years.

And Coxon’s not alone: even within his own former company, calls are growing for guardrails.

DARIO AMODEI, ANTHROPIC CEO:

"This technology, it's going to jump much more quickly than we imagine. But even as I was saying that to myself, I don't think I fully just appreciated what it would actually be like when the progress was as fast as it was. So an exponential curve looks a little like this. [Reporter: Where are we on the curve?] We're kind of on the bend where it's starting to get steeper."

He wants three checks on AI growth: independent safety appraisals, cooperation among firms, and international cooperation, too. On work among AI firms, he already has an initial win.

Both Elon Musk of xAI and Sam Altman of OpenAI agree with this assessment.

International cooperation could be where this safety plan falls apart, though. In the US, both Democrats and Republicans have called for AI controls. But at the center of power in Washington is a fear that a voluntary slowdown in the US would let an unbridled China leap ahead in the AI race. And that is something some US power brokers—even those in favor of guardrails-- are unwilling to see happen.

MIKE JOHNSON, US HOUSE SPEAKER:

"I think we've got to have a meaningful regulation that does not smother American innovation. Now, the how to solve that equation, no one knows yet. We're not going to rush in and pass a piece of legislation that would do harm to the country and put China at an edge. And so we've got to do this carefully."

And US President Donald Trump says he sees alarmism in all this talk of AI’s future—potentially at the cost of winning a key tech race.

DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT:

"Well, I say this, we're leading China in AI. We're the most sophisticated country in the world. And frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins. And we can put guardrails, we can do this and that but I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up and they are bringing up things that won’t happen."

China, meanwhile, has its own goals, with President Xi Jinping telling a BRICS gathering in New Delhi that his country will lead a BRICS AI-open source zone and build an open AI ecosystem.

So, with warnings coming from within the AI industry... the next question is whether Washington and Beijing can build guardrails before the race outruns them.

Patrick Chen and John Van Trieste for TaiwanPlus.