US to Tell Partners They Must Pick Sides in the AI Race with China

Washington is preparing to tell roughly 35 partner countries they must choose between a U.S.-led AI coalition and China's rival World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, warning they will be shut out of Pax Silica if they also sign up for Beijing's framework, according to a draft State Department letter reviewed by Reuters.

The United States is preparing to tell dozens of partner countries that they must pick a side in the artificial intelligence race with China — and that choosing both is no longer on the table, according to a U.S. official and an internal draft letter reviewed by Reuters.

The draft, prepared by the State Department, is addressed to the 35 signatories of a U.S. "AI Opportunity Statement" signed in June. It warns that any country that also joins China's competing framework will be excluded from Pax Silica, the U.S.-led coalition launched last year to secure supply chains for AI models, semiconductors, and critical minerals.

The ultimatum is blunt: "To be part of everything is to be part of nothing." The letter urges countries to "choose deliberately" on AI, and says membership "cannot be held alongside membership in duplicative initiatives whose expectations conflict with our own."

The immediate trigger is Kazakhstan, the only country known to have joined both initiatives. Beijing launched its rival World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization in July, promoting Chinese open-weight models as a direct challenge to U.S. influence. The pressure campaign lands as Chinese open-weight models make rapid gains against proprietary systems from OpenAI and Anthropic, and as Beijing weighs restricting overseas access to some of its leading models.

Sources: Reuters via Yahoo News | Reuters via 95.5 WIFC