Can the US and China verify an AI deal? Start-ups are starting to build the tools

There are growing calls for Washington and Beijing to agree to slow down development of artificial intelligence.

But even if they wanted to do so, how could they verify that the other side would do the same? A group of researchers and start-ups is developing technology intended to make this a possibility, without relying on trust alone.

Their proposed tools would allow third parties and governments to check some claims about how AI models are being trained or used – possibly without needing...