China warns against AI ‘fear-mongering’ as US tech leaders call for slower development

China on Monday warned against “fear-mongering” over artificial intelligence development after prominent US technology executives backed calls to slow advances in frontier AI and introduce stronger safeguards.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said AI development concerned the “common well-being of all humanity” and urged countries to “promote its open, inclusive and universally beneficial development.”

Guo said "fear mongering," confrontation and engaging in “malicious competition” would disrupt global AI governance, which serves no one's interests.

He was responding to a question about calls by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Elon Musk and other technology executives to slow AI development, as well as Amodei’s claim that China’s advances in the technology pose a threat to US national security.

Some of the most prominent figures in the AI industry have backed Amodei after he published an essay, We Must Pace the Frontier, calling for slower development of the most advanced AI systems and stronger safeguards.

Musk said Amodei was “right,” while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said pacing frontier development had become a major subject of recent discussions at his company.

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said Amodei’s proposal pointed toward the “right path forward.”

Amodei argued that rapid advances could increase risks ranging from humans losing control of increasingly capable AI systems to cyberattacks, biological threats and economic disruption, warning that commercial competition could intensify those dangers.