'Xi's diplomatic strategist' warns of global annihilation if AI merges with nuclear weapons

A prominent Chinese scholar has warned that the AI competition between the United States and China must not escalate into a new Cold War.

Zheng Yongnian, dean of the School of Public Policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Shenzhen campus and a figure once described as Xi Jinping's diplomatic strategist, made the remarks in an interview, according to the South China Morning Post. Yonhap reported the comments Thursday, noting that AI has emerged as a key agenda item for an upcoming summit.

"We cannot simply place the current situation in the context of the US-Soviet Cold War," Zheng said, adding that "we must recognize that combining nuclear weapons with AI could pose a risk of destroying the world."

He said neither the United States nor China could manage the AI challenge alone, and argued that AI technology is far more dangerous than nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons sit in storage facilities under global oversight, he said, while AI is advancing rapidly in a regulatory vacuum.

"Cooperation is essential to building an international framework," Zheng said. "The US and China must not have separate systems. If they do, that becomes a US-Soviet-style dynamic — and that would be truly terrible."

He added, however, that unlike the Cold War, in which the US and Soviet Union were divided into two completely isolated blocs, the US and China are still engaging with each other. "This is a very interesting new dynamic," he said.

"Nuclear weapons have relatively clear storage facilities and deployment configurations, and the international community has already established relevant bodies and control mechanisms through years of effort," Zheng said. "AI, by contrast, is everywhere. It is connected to all kinds of systems — financial, political, social — and affects everyone's daily life."

He said he does not expect the US and China to drift into the kind of dire confrontation seen during the US-Soviet Cold War. "At least from China's perspective, China also has the ability to avoid a confrontation of that magnitude," he said.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump signaled his determination to press ahead with accelerating AI development.

Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday that it was "an important day with President Xi," adding that "Super Intelligence" — his term for AI — "will be a major topic of discussion."

"But I want to leave this issue as it is," Trump said. "China feels the same way."

The remarks were widely interpreted as a signal that Trump has no intention of slowing AI development, even as voices within the US AI industry have warned that unchecked AI could threaten human survival and called for a more measured pace.

Trump's comments suggest China holds a similar position.

Trump has long said that whoever wins the AI race will prevail in the global competition for dominance. On AI safety, he has said "our safeguard is the Department of Justice," indicating that the FBI and other agencies under the Justice Department would handle investigations and penalties should AI-related problems arise.