China Slams Anthropic CEO's AI Slowdown Plan as Cold War Tactic

China's state media and foreign ministry have sharply criticized a proposal by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to slow the development of advanced artificial intelligence, framing the plan as a U.S. Cold War tactic aimed at restricting China's technological rise. The criticism escalates a geopolitical debate over AI safety and competition between the world's two largest economies. In an essay published on Saturday, September 12, Amodei outlined a framework for leading AI companies to pace the development of increasingly capable models, giving governments and firms more time to address potential safety risks. The proposal was endorsed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. However, Amodei also called for the United States to strengthen restrictions on advanced chip exports to China and take tougher action against alleged model distillation by Chinese AI laboratories. China's response was swift. The state-backed Global Times newspaper published an editorial accusing Amodei of using AI safety concerns as a "Cold War playbook" to justify tighter curbs on Beijing's technological ambitions.