Urgent calls from OpenAI, Anthropic for an AI slowdown fall on deaf ears with Trump, Xi ahead of next week’s meeting

Concerns about AI safety are reaching a fever pitch in the U.S. after a X post by a former Anthropic researcher went viral, claiming the technology could kill all of humanity by the end of the decade.

In response, the CEOs from OpenAI and Anthropic have reiterated their calls for the U.S. to coordinate with China to slow and pace AI development.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman even tried to appeal to the egos of the leading figures, telling Fortune in an interview Friday that he believed U.S.

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could win the Nobel Peace Prize if the two leaders struck a deal on AI safety.

But the idea of an AI slowdown seems to have fallen on deaf ears with President Trump and President Xi, who are set to meet on Sept.

24.

Both have rejected the idea.

Trump said “the only controls or ‘guardrails’ the U.S. needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT” in a Sept.

14 Truth Social post .

The same day, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun called the current discourse in the U.S.

“fear-mongering” that “will only hamper efforts toward sound global AI governance, which serves no one’s interest.” In China, the calls for a slowdown have also come off as an attempt by the U.S. to maintain its leading edge, as it has tried to do by limiting the export of advanced AI chips to China.

“Xi is unhappy with recent U.S. moves to contain Chinese advances in AI, robotics, and drones,” said George Chen, Partner and Chair of Digital Practice, The Asia Group.

“For Xi, AI is the new internet — a once‑in‑a‑lifetime chance to reshape the technological balance of power.

China does not need U.S. permission to accelerate or decelerate its AI investments; Xi will pursue his own agenda.” Trump echoed Xi in his Truth Social post, saying, “Whoever wins AI, wins!” The leaders are expected to begin discussing AI safety when they meet, but any kind of agreement between the countries is “a long way” off, according to Paul Triolo, global technology policy lead at the advisory firm DGA.