China-US relations: work together to prevent an AI arms race, experts say

With the weaponisation of artificial intelligence considered inevitable ‘we need to find an appropriate governance path’, China’s ex-foreign affairs vice-minister Fu Ying says

Nations ‘need not revert to the kind of brinkmanship’ that saw the US and Soviet Union stockpile nuclear weapons during the Cold War, John Allen, president of the Brookings Institution, says

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An employee demonstrates a wearable AI-powered bionic hand at the JD Global Technology Discovery Conference in Beijing in November. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:00pm, 20 Dec 2020Updated: 6:43am, 21 Dec 2020

Experts from the United States and China say there is an urgent need to develop international norms on artificial intelligence, as the strategic rivalry between the two countries raises fears of a new type of arms race.

Fu Ying, a former Chinese vice-minister for foreign affairs, said the two sides, which are world leaders in the field, should work together to build a global governance system for AI technologies.

“Experts think that since the weaponisation of artificial intelligence is inevitable, we need to find an appropriate governance path,” she told a forum at Tsinghua University on Friday, according to a transcript of her speech.

“I hope we can set up a very inclusive international governance committee … and come up with international norms through joint discussion, research and by listening to good opinions and suggestions. This is very necessary and urgent,” she said.

Since October 2019, Fu and John Allen, president of the Washington-based Brookings Institution and a former commander of the Nato International Security Assistance Force and US Forces in Afghanistan, have led three unofficial, track two dialogues between the two sides on AI-enabled military systems.

The talks covered off-limits targets and data for AI weapons, regulations for them in line with international laws and norms, and human oversight of AI-enabled platforms, the experts said.