To Graylin, the US pretending that China achieving artificial superintelligence first would pose the “greatest AI security threat to the United States” seems flawed, and it’s obstructing cooperation that would help both countries prepare for actual imminent AI risks. Those include threats to workers, national economies, and national security.

“The most dangerous models are often those smaller specialized ones that could be created or utilized by non-state rogue actors for the purpose of deploying biological, chemical, or cyber weapons,” Graylin wrote. “The assumption of US-China conflict prevents the exact global cooperation to protect against this very real threat.”

Graylin suggested that the US could take steps to ease public fears globally about AI, but some of them might seem extreme in Trump’s eyes.

Along with sharing high-level intelligence and opening “bilateral and multilateral channels on AI safety,” Trump might consider restoring Joe Biden’s “small yard” and loosening an ever-widening range of export controls that are likely currently keeping China from conducting better safety testing. If export controls were narrowed to only block access to “genuine military and CBRNE threats” and “not all advanced technology,” then China might deploy safer AI products, he suggested.

Additionally, Trump could consider following China’s lead and softening his AI deregulation stance. By enacting reasonable safety regulations, he could possibly start to “lessen the growing societal fear over AI that’s been brewing domestically,” which Graylin wrote, “is certain to hinder the nation’s ability to deploy this technology effectively into the economy and reduce our global competitiveness.”

“We cannot manage the multifaceted risks of the most powerful technology in human history while refusing to talk to the other nation building it,” Graylin wrote.

In a perfect world, this week’s meeting between Trump and Xi would one day lead to the US abandoning this narrative of “winning an AI race,” Graylin said.

“There is no way to compete yourself to a safer world,” he told Ars.