'Winning AI war is like winning nuclear war': Democrat has a drastic plan for Trump-Xi summit

WASHINGTON, DC: Ro Khanna of California's 17th congressional district offered advice to Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of Xi's visit to Washington, DC, amid the intense pace of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom.

Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon recently issued a stark warning about a potential Artificial Intelligence threat, saying it “could kill us all” if not restrained.

Ro Khanna compares AI war to nuclear war

Appearing on CBS’s 'Face the Nation' on Sunday, September 20, Ro Khanna argued that if China and America enter the AI race, the consequence would be catastrophic, similar to a nuclear war.

Ro Khanna wrote letters to DeepSeek, Alibaba, and other firms, urging them to follow American firms like OpenAI and Anthropic and slow the pace of AI advancement until society develops guardrails.

Host Margaret Brennan questioned Khanna on his proposal of collaboration between Chinese AI firms and American companies, acknowledging that both countries are in an arms race. 

The CBS host asked Khanna if he has received answers to any of his letters written to Chinese companies.

Before comparing the AI race with nuclear war, Khanna explicitly answered that he has not received an answer from Chinese companies. “They have not,” Khanna replied.

Khanna warned that an AI war between the US and China could be as dangerous as a nuclear conflict.

“Winning an AI war is like winning a nuclear war. It is catastrophic for civilization,” Khanna said.

He called for both countries to agree to basic rules for AI, pointing to two major risks. These risks are losing control of the technology and its misuse.

He said Chinese AI companies have so far taken no action to address either threat.

Further talking about concerns over China copying American AI models, Khanna said this could be another reason to regulate American models.

“Basically, they are copying American models. That's one reason, frankly, to regulate American models because they're copying them,” he said.

AI safety debate becomes a political fight

President Donald Trump dismissed the concerns that AI could pose an existential threat to humanity, calling the warning a “hoax.” He also argued that the only guardrails AI needs are his presidency.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to speed up two AI laws he recently signed. The new order also aims to explore proposals like requiring AI companies to develop a “kill switch” for most advanced models dubbed as superintelligence.

Newsom also targeted the Trump administration's inaction over AI safety framework, stating that the federal government’s inaction drove his push for AI safety in California.

Taking aim at Trump’s remarks that regulation on AI is “for losers,” former President Barack Obama said that things are going out of hand and the current administration is inefficient at putting together “regulatory frameworks.”

Barack Obama spoke about the AI threats during a Friday interview at Colgate University.