China Slams US on AI Access Restrictions

Beijing, Feb 12 (PTI) China on Wednesday hit out at US Vice President J D Vance's caution to global leaders against striking deals with “authoritarian regimes” on Artificial Intelligence saying that it is opposed to drawing lines on AI accessibility on ideological lines and politicising trade and tech issues.

In a thinly veiled jibe at China while speaking at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in France on Tuesday, Vance cautioned that AI deals with authoritarian regimes may chain nations to an “authoritarian master.”

Responding to questions on Vance's comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a media briefing here: “We are against drawing lines along ideological differences, overstretching the concept of national security, or politicising trade and tech issues.”

Guo said on AI cooperation, China stressed more than once that it is embracing the AI transformation and is working hard to advance AI.

“We take the safety and security of AI seriously and support entrepreneurial innovation by Chinese companies. China is also an advocate of inclusive AI,” he said.

Beijing is advocating that AI technologies should be open-sourced and there should be greater accessibility to AI services, Guo said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit. Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing attended as a Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping.

Cautioning global leaders against striking artificial intelligence deals with “authoritarian regimes,” Vance said, “Partnering with them means chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in and seize your information infrastructure.”

The Trump administration will “ensure that AI systems developed in America are free from ideological bias,” and the US would “never restrict our citizens' right to free speech,” Vance said.

The US didn't sign the joint statement released after the summit.

Last month, China criticised several countries, including India, for clamping restrictions on respective officials accessing the newly released Chinese AI tool DeepSeek over suspicions of data leaks.

Meanwhile, China's Alibaba Group has entered a partnership with US consumer electronics giant Apple to develop AI features for iPhones in China, considered as a sign of the growing recognition of Alibaba's capabilities on the fast-moving AI front, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

Apple has decided to work with Alibaba as it sees the strength of the Chinese company's Qwen AI model and its “cutting edge” capabilities, the Post, owned by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, reported on Tuesday.

The deal comes as Apple seeks to secure a local AI partner to boost sales of iPhones on the mainland, where the US company is facing a challenge in the world's largest smartphone market because its Apple Intelligence capability is unavailable to iPhone users, the report said.