appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Chong Ming Lee

US tech titans including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla’s Elon Musk are pressing global powers to curb artificial intelligence regulations, warning that strict guard rails risk suffocating innovation as the US and China compete in an intensifying technological arms race.
Speaking at a G20 meeting alongside US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Huang urged policymakers to pursue AI regulations targeting “actual and pragmatic harm” rather than “hypothetical theoretical harm”.
He argued that excessive regulation and fear could prevent countries from capturing the economic benefits of rapidly advancing AI.
“The worst outcome is that you don’t take advantage of it, that you are left behind,” the billionaire chip executive said.
The high-profile call comes as Washington moves to ease regulatory hurdles for home-grown developers, drawing sharp rebukes from Beijing, and as US executives ramp up lobbying against potential bans on open-weight AI models, framing open technology as vital to maintaining global technological leadership.
Musk delivered a similar message at a G20 session on Tuesday, saying countries should create an environment “relatively free of regulation” in which new technologies were “default legal as opposed to default illegal”.
The Tesla chief singled out the European Union as a jurisdiction where high levels of regulation had inhibited technological progress.
We’re very strong advocates that open source shouldn’t be something that people try to restrict or lock down
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg also cautioned against restricting access to open-source AI, arguing that widely distributing the technology could itself contribute to safety by preventing powerful systems from becoming concentrated among a handful of companies or governments.
“We’re very strong advocates that open source shouldn’t be something that people try to restrict or lock down,” Zuckerberg said at the G20 meeting on Tuesday.
“I think it’s a very important part of creating a good future for everyone.”
The warnings highlighted the US-China race to develop increasingly capable AI systems and the infrastructure needed to power them, with developers on both sides pushing models towards new levels of performance and autonomy.
Anthropic on Wednesday released Claude Fable 5.1, which it described as its most advanced model for coding and complex knowledge work, alongside a restricted-access version called Mythos 5.1.
Fable 5.1 scored 66 on Artificial Analysis’ Intelligence Index, topping the global chart, six points ahead of Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 and Z.ai’s GLM-5.3, two of China’s leading open-weight models.
OpenAI teased its coming Astra model on Wednesday, saying it might reach a “critical level of cybersecurity capability” that could allow it to discover and exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities across well-protected systems without human assistance.

The tech executives’ remarks also added to a wider debate over how far governments should go in regulating increasingly powerful AI systems.
Huang and other US technology leaders have previously pushed back against potential government restrictions on open-weight models, an arena currently dominated by Chinese labs.
Meta expanded its open-weight line-up last month with Muse Glimmer, a lightweight model capable of running locally on personal devices, alongside its flagship Llama series. Nvidia broadened its open-weight ecosystem by launching Nemotron 3.5 Lightning the same month.
Washington’s moves to ease AI regulations, alongside aggressive lobbying by US tech companies, have drawn criticism from Chinese state media.
A commentary published by Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, on Sunday accused Washington of weakening AI regulatory standards to “maintain technological hegemony”.
It pointed to US President Donald Trump’s June executive order shortening the voluntary pre-release review period for advanced AI models to 30 days from 90.
At a G20 meeting, China’s science and technology minister Yin Hejun said there was an urgent need for countries to work together to address the opportunities and risks posed by AI, according to a statement published by the Ministry of Science and Technology on Wednesday.


Philippine tribe vows to stand ground against US-led Pax Silica: ‘listen to us’

As the US weighs restrictions on cloud computing, how will China’s AI sector adapt?

Chinese AI chipmaker Hygon plots expansion from data centres to robotics

For China’s hi-tech IPOs, it’s Hong Kong vs the mainland – but how much does it matter?

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Tech race flashpoint: Huang, Musk push back on AI guard rails amid heated US-China rivalry

Jensen Huang speaks at the G20 Innovation Ministerial summit. Photo: Reuters

Elon Musk speaks via video conference to delegates at the G20 Innovation Ministerial summit. Photo: Reuters

China urges global AI cooperation, not rivalry, ahead of Xi-Trump summit

China’s Minister of Science and Technology Yin Hejun joins other delegates at the G20 Innovation Ministerial summit in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters



Bill Gates warns of AI’s impact, urges the US and China to cooperate

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates issued a stark warning about AI’s risks, saying companies were rushing ahead with the technology without a broader plan for the massive upheaval it would cause. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS

China’s tech push fuels fastest profit growth in 4 years amid signs of economic divide

Earnings for firms on the Star Market in Shanghai and the ChiNext board in Shenzhen soared in the first half. Photo: AFP

Earnings for firms on the Star Market in Shanghai and the ChiNext board in Shenzhen soared in the first half. Photo: Shutterstock

China approves string of ‘telepathy’ devices amid push to leapfrog Elon Musk

Domestically developed brain-computer interface products at China Sensor Valley in Bengbu, Anhui province, last month. Photo: Xinhua

An engineer wears a brain-computer interface head cap to pilot a humanoid robot at the Fourier Intelligence booth during last month’s World Robot Conference in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Tech

Big Tech

Policy

Tech Trends

Tech War

Business

Companies

News

China Future Tech

US tech leaders warn strict rules could blunt innovation and prevent the harnessing of economic gains from rapidly advancing AI


US tech leaders warn strict rules could blunt innovation and prevent the harnessing of economic gains from rapidly advancing AI.


Tech race flashpoint: Huang, Musk push back on AI guard rails amid heated US-China rivalry

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}US tech leaders warn strict rules could blunt innovation and prevent the harnessing of economic gains from rapidly advancing AI

US tech leaders warn strict rules could blunt innovation and prevent the harnessing of economic gains from rapidly advancing AI