China, US hold first AI dialogue amid mounting tech tensions: commerce ministry

China and the US held their first dialogue on artificial intelligence, with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent leading the talks for their respective sides, China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

He Yadong, a spokesman for the commerce ministry, confirmed the completion of the AI dialogue while briefing reporters on the eighth round of US-China trade talks held in New York on Sunday.

The dialogue comes as AI technology emerges as a high-stakes battleground between Beijing and Washington, with tensions escalating sharply in recent months.

Despite Washington maintaining strict controls on Chinese access to advanced AI chips, US officials have accused the country’s developers of using “distillation” – a widely used technique where a smaller AI model learns from the output of a more advanced one – to replicate the capabilities of leading American systems.