“The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety,” stated United States (US) Vice President J.D. Vance at the 2025 Paris AI Action Summit (PAIAS). His remark underscores three realities: first, AI will be a defining technology for the future; second, there will be winners and losers in the AI race; third, regulatory approaches will determine whether a nation can capitalise on AI’s transformative power. The significance of AI for the future of humanity has become a truism in tech and geopolitical circles, with industry leaders predicting that humanity is either at the dawn of “The Intelligence Age” or “the race to human extinction”. Governments are contending with the reality that, regardless of which outcome emerges, cutting-edge AI research and innovation are largely concentrated in the US and China. Indeed, zero-sum efforts in both Washington and Beijing to outdo the other in the AI race appear to have increasingly marginalised the scope for joint endeavours.
AI safety on the chopping block: How US-China rivalry is redefining regulation
