Australian premier urges US, China to strike deal on AI's rapid development

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday called upon the US and China, the two leading nations in the artificial intelligence (AI) race, to strike a deal on the technology.

Albanese made the call during a visit to the headquarters of the tech giant Apples in Cupertino, California on his way to New York to attend the UN General Assembly session next week, as the US President Donald Trump steps up his fight against regulation.

He urged Washington and Beijing to cooperate and strike a deal similar to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, signed in 1970 to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.

"The truth is they're the big two giants here and so we want to see cooperation," he said.

Albanese said he would be speaking to like-minded leaders at the upcoming UN General Assembly session, for global rules to regulate the AI's rapid development.

Describing AI as a "global phenomenon," Albanese said that sitting on the sidelines was not an option.

"There is a need for a discussion about what the global framework is for the rollout of AI, because it is moving very quickly, and we need to make sure that humans remain in control," he added.

The fresh debate over the pace of AI development was triggered after Anthropic chief Dario Amodei called for a coordinated slowdown. His call was backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman and SpaceX's Elon Musk.

Trump, however, has pushed back on the call, arguing any deceleration would give America's biggest competitor, China, the upper hand.

Ahead of his upcoming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House, Trump doubled down on his argument, declaring he would establish a new "AI Force" to protect against the "decimation or destruction" of AI.