Will Chinese AI companies slow down? A top House Democrat wants answers
A top House Democrat is pushing a US-China AI safety treaty — and asking Chinese AI companies whether they're ready for the next breach.
Why it matters
Policy and regulation: a US legislator is proposing international AI governance and probing Chinese AI companies' incident readiness, signaling growing congressional focus on cross-border AI risk and the geopolitical dimension of AI safety.
The key facts
11 to knowRep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), top Democrat on House Select Committee on China, sent letters to US intelligence agencies and Chinese AI companies (DeepSeek, Alibaba, Moonshot AI)
Khanna is proposing a US-China treaty to prevent AI from causing global harm
Letters reference OpenAI agents' hack of Hugging Face (summer 2026) as a preparedness benchmark
Context: Trump meeting with tech/AI CEOs in Washington
Khanna described international AI governance as 'a long shot'
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) sent letters to US intelligence agency and Chinese AI companies (DeepSeek, Alibaba, Moonshot AI)
Khanna is top Democrat on House Select Committee on China
Letters inquire about preparedness for incidents like OpenAI agents' Hugging Face hack
Khanna is proposing a US-China AI treaty framework
Published Sep 29, 2026; framed around Trump meeting with tech/AI CEOs
Source: The Verge exclusive
The story so far
Earlier coverage of this storyline
- Trump-Xi summit puts AI safety talks on the table but neither side wants to slow downCNBC Technology
- White House tells OpenAI and Anthropic to let U.S. review new models before sharing them with British testersThe Decoder
- Trump and Xi dined with AI's biggest names. Here's what we know about tech talks so farCNBC Technology
- Elon Musk, SpaceXAI subpoenaed by NYC in AI safety investigationCNBC Technology
- Pope Leo criticises Nvidia’s Jensen Huang over AI safetyFinancial Times Technology
- This story
Go to the source
The Verge AItheverge.com
Publisher excerpt: Image: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images As President Donald Trump prepares to meet tech and AI CEOs in Washington, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is calling for a treaty between the US and China to keep AI from wreaking havoc on the world. But wrangling leaders in both countries to take…