China's intelligence chief calls for global AI guardrails, warning of new strategic rivalry

Chen made the claims in China Cyberspace, a journal run by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet watchdog. In the article, he highlighted five risks: ideological security, critical information infrastructure, data leaks, development gaps and espionage.

On ideological security, Chen said AI could be 'leveraged by hostile forces' to create fake news and other harmful information, systematically creating discontent and dividing the population. On critical information infrastructure, he said that as models advance, the barrier to entry lowers, making disruptive cyberattacks quicker and easier to carry out.

Chen said foreign intelligence agencies are heavily exploiting smart web crawlers, data mining and profiling technologies to harvest sensitive information, including critical state data, business secrets and personal information. He also warned that people are recklessly sharing sensitive data with foreign AI tools, which could result in catastrophic data leaks. TechRadar noted that open-source agents such as OpenClaw often come with vulnerabilities that could lead to remotely triggered data spills.

On development gaps, Chen warned that a handful of major players are severing the global AI supply chain and creating a monopoly of closed-source ecosystems. He called for early-warning mechanisms and public advisories that should name and shame foreign nation-state actors using AI for espionage, data theft and disinformation campaigns.

Chen did not name specific countries. The South China Morning Post said in its report that the United States could be read between the lines, according to TechRadar. TechRadar added that the U.S. administration recently warned it could not allow China to surpass it in AI development.

Less than a week before the TechRadar article, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States would face dire consequences if it lost the AI race against China. 'There is no day after tomorrow if China wins at this,' Bessent said at a Breitbart News event in Washington, Bloomberg reported. 'If they were to pull away from us on AI, then nothing else would matter.'

The United States and China have been in a trade war for years. During Donald Trump’s first term, he blacklisted numerous Chinese hardware manufacturers, warning that Chinese-built 5G infrastructure could be abused to install backdoors and allow the Chinese government to spy on U.S. communications. Huawei, ZTE and TikTok bore the brunt of those accusations, which the Chinese government vehemently denied. In his second term, Trump declared a national emergency and banned all foreign bulk-power systems from being imported, installed or used in the United States. In a signed executive order, Trump said the bulk-power system could be a target of malicious cyber activities and that a successful attack would pose significant risks to the U.S. economy, human health and safety, and national defense. He said there were 'minimal restrictions' on acquisition and operation of foreign-produced systems, calling the situation an unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy and the economy.

While the AI race is intensifying, developers are calling for a slowdown and better guardrails. Some developers estimated that AI could end humanity in a few decades, urging the industry to slow down and only develop systems they are confident they can control, according to TechRadar.