China state media slams Anthropic’s AI slowdown call as ‘Cold War’ strategy

Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for slowing down AI development in the midst of growing risks posed by the cutting-edge technology.

The essay published on Saturday drew mixed responses from tech giants and the international community. For instance, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk backed Dario in his push to slow down the pace of developing frontier AI model capabilities.

However, US President Donald Trump snubbed these calls to put a lid on AI development while stating that very negative forces were raising exaggerated concerns.

"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," Trump ⁠said.

In the midst of commotion came the response from the China state-backed newspaper. In an editorial, it slammed Anthropic for waging a “Cold War” tactic against China under the pretext of a rational statement focused on safety risks.

According to Global Times’ statement, “the true agenda of Amodei’s essay was to curb China's ​AI development through technological barriers and regulatory monopolies, uphold Washington's monopolistic hegemony in cutting-edge technology, and exclude ‌China ⁠from the global AI governance system.”

It added, “This 'silent AI Cold War' is hypocritical and short-sighted.” It also emphasized that any effort to exclude China from global AI innovation would significantly “increase the trial-and-error costs and risks of loss of control in global AI development.”

The call was aimed at slowing down development for safety purposes, and now has taken a geopolitical shape driven by the US-China competition in the competitive landscape.

In a highly anticipated summit taking place this September between President Trump and Xi Jinping, both leaders are expected to raise the issue related to frontier AI safety risks.

Following alarming warnings from two Anthropic researchers that fast-advancing artificial intelligence could threaten human survival in the near future, U.S. lawmakers are pushing for fresh regulations to oversee AI systems.

Amodei clarified that he wasn't advocating for a freeze on training or technical advancement. He also proposed a three-step framework in which Anthropic would install permanent third-party reviewers inside frontier AI models with access to relevant tools and internal risk assessment processes.