Conceptual diagram of AI Photo: VCG

On Saturday, a proposal that appeared to advocate for "anti-over-competition" in the AI industry quietly stripped away the facade of some figures in the US tech community.

Dario Amodei, CEO of the US AI company Anthropic, published an online essay that day, stating that "We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models" to avoid the risk of technology spiraling out of control. This initiative quickly garnered joint support from big names in the US' AI community, including Elon Musk and Sam Altman.

On the surface, this appears to be a "rational statement" focused on global AI security. A close reading, however, reveals its hidden agenda: The article is packed with containment provisions targeting China and is, in essence, a "Cold War playbook" for the AI sector. 

Amodei claims that democratic nations "must not be naive" when dealing with China. To prevent China from achieving "geopolitical dominance" by taking advantage of the US restraining its AI capabilities, he proposes choking off China first to widen the tech gap, and then seeking conditional negotiations with Beijing to slow down. 

This includes three specific restrictions and containment measures: a strict ban on the sale of powerful AI chips or semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China; cracking down on so-called "model distillation"; and strengthening security at the AI companies and preventing model weight theft.

In recent years, the rapid evolution of AI technology has brought about security risks, ethical concerns, and the danger of technological runaway. These are global challenges faced by all of humanity. However, the core of Amodei's initiative completely deviates from the original intent of "co-governance of technology" and politicizes technical issues. 

This "silent AI Cold War" is hypocritical and short-sighted. Its true purpose is to attempt 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, essentially following in the footsteps of Washington's so-called Pax Silica initiative, which seeks to excludes China.

Amodei's attempt to discuss global AI security while simultaneously seeking to "contain China" was not only a grossly flawed assessment but also a delusion fundamentally impossible to realize. As one of the largest and most open suppliers in the global AI ecosystem, China's AI capabilities have long ceased to be a variable that can be "excluded." 

Forcibly severing the global AI industrial and innovation chains and excluding China and Chinese companies will only significantly increase the trial-and-error costs and risks of loss of control in global AI development. This attempt to "control the pace" has already lost all meaning.