Chinese Leader Xi Jinping Warns of AI Risks to National Security

BEIJING - China's ruling Communist Party is calling for beefed-up national security measures, highlighting the risks posed by advances in artificial intelligence. A meeting headed by party leader and President Xi Jinping on Tuesday urged "Dedicated efforts to safeguard political security and improve the security governance of internet data and artificial intelligence," the official Xinhua News Agency said. Xi, who is China's head of state, commander of the military and chair of the party's National Security Commission, called at the meeting for "Staying keenly aware of the complicated and challenging circumstances facing national security." China needs a "New pattern of development with a new security architecture," Xinhua reported Xi as saying. China already dedicates vast resources to suppressing any perceived political threats to the party's dominance, with spending on the police and security personnel exceeding that devoted to the military. China has been cracking down on its tech sector in an effort to reassert party control, but like other countries, it is scrambling to find ways to regulate the developing technology. More than 1,000 researchers and technologists, including Elon Musk, who is currently on a visit to China, had signed a much longer letter earlier this year calling for a six-month pause on AI development.