Full Breakdown
U.S. and China Discuss AI Cooperation at Trump-Xi State Dinner
By Drooid · · How we work
AI Dialogue at the State Dinner
On the evening of September 24, 2026, President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in the White House’s East Room. The gathering, attended by senior U.S. tech leaders, placed artificial-intelligence (AI) policy at the forefront of the bilateral discussion. Both leaders framed AI as a domain where competition and cooperation could coexist.
Participants
The guest list included:
- Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, and his wife Lori Huang
- Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX
- Lisa Su, CEO of AMD
- Tim Cook, Chairman of Apple
- Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and President Greg Brockman
- Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta
- Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft
- Sergey Brin, Google co-founder
- Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, and his wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos
Commentators noted the absence of Chinese business leaders, highlighting the diplomatic focus on technology rather than commerce.
Proposed Hotline and Ongoing Issues
The suggested channel would function similarly to Cold-War-era crisis lines, though its effectiveness would depend on high-level commitment. Remaining friction points include U.S. export controls on advanced Nvidia chips and allegations of Chinese firms accessing those chips via overseas data centers.
Official Statements & Responses
- Xi Jinping (as reported by Chinese officials) called for a “people-centered approach” to AI and urged cooperation to prevent misuse.
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discussed a “U.S.–China AI dialogue” with his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng, proposing a channel for incidents at the national-security level.
Verbatim Quotes
- “AI must be kept under human control. A people-centered approach should be upheld, and AI should be developed for the positive and for good, so that AI will serve the progress of humanity.” — Donald Trump, president