US Has 'Leverage' Over China in the 'AI Arms Race,' GOP Rep. Says

All right, Edward, thank you very much. And focus with me now, Republican Congressman Michael McCaul of the great state of Texas, co-chairman of the Congressional AI Caucus and member of the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security committees. It is wonderful to have you in program today. First of all, there's some in the tech industry who say if you slow down on development of AI, then perhaps you're slowing down on what we know that could make it safer. So everything slows down. What's your response to that? Well, I don't think, first of all, this is one of the strongest speeches I've ever seen the president give this to an international audience. China paying very close attention to this AI arms race that we're in. When you get into advanced AI, you get into advanced weapon systems. That's why we can't afford to slow down and lose this AI arms race that we are in, particularly with China. I do like the idea of this hotline approach. We had this during the height of the Cold War with nuclear missiles pointed at each other. We had a hotline there. I think that is actually a good idea. But to slow down AI development, as the president said, this is a technology revolution that we've never seen before. It's here, here now. And I think we need to win this race against China, not put the reins on it. I do think humans should be involved at high level consequential decisions when it comes to AI. And I think that's the sort of thing that Congress is taking a look at. All right, you used an example there that has really got some visuals with it. So you're talking about Russia and the Cold War. What is the equivalency of what they have pointed at us from China if we don't get into some sort of an agreement that we're going to do this safety issue and weapons issue side by side and some kind of Cold War style hotline? Well, I know this will be a discussion with China and President Xi and President Trump. I think the hotline is a really good idea moving forward that we can achieve. I have to say, Harris, I've known China for a long time. I'm sanctioned in China. I've seen what they've done under President Xi. I don't want to have a whole lot of trust. Reagan talked about trust, but verify. And before we start slowing down our AI capabilities, we have to have that level of trust that we don't have. Well, what could they do right now? What are we facing? Like with Russia and the Cold War, we knew what we were facing. Well, I think mutually assured destruction worked in the Cold War. It would certainly work here. But again, the hotline is a good idea. I think having human decisions made so that machines don't take over these decisions is also a very smart idea. And I will say the bill that I introduced, Lindsey Graham and I worked on the sanctions tariff bill against Russia and Iran. The president, we gave him, and I was in the White House at the bill signing ceremony, tremendous leverage over China with this tariff authority, imputative authorities that we gave him, these tools. So he has a lot in his toolkit to negotiate something, not only just trade, but perhaps with AI. And I think a really good start would be this AI hotline or superintelligence hotline he talks about. All right, well, when it comes to Thursday's meeting with our president and China's president, the Wall Street Journal editorial board says this, what would a productive outcome look like? Ask Xi whether China is helping Iran shoot at Americans in the Middle East. Warn Xi about ripping off US artificial intelligence models, because you know they like to steal our IP. And to stop threatening the peaceful status quo in the Taiwan Strait. Then to press Xi to stop using his advantage in the rare earth minerals to coerce other nations. That's a long list of deliverables. Do you think we could get to any of them? I think the Wall Street Journal outlined all the goals that should be discussed, and I know they will be. Again, the intent behind the bill that I passed last week was to give the president leverage over China, and then Russia, who are also arming and giving targeting information to Iran to kill American soldiers over there. And also, they're using the proxies of Iran to kill both people in Saudi and also our military bases. So, we gave them a lot of leverage there. I think all those, I do think the international community needs to come to our assistance when it comes to Iran as well. Also, these discussions with the Ukraine and President Zelensky. Again, we gave the president tremendous leverage. China is the only nation that can influence Putin to come to the negotiating table to end this conflict once and for all. Interesting. Well, we are 42 days away from a midterm election, and I guess the other looming question that we can't answer right now is whether Democrats will join Republicans in a common-sense road ahead in terms of all of the things that you've mentioned and not let that divide us and the nation. We'll be watching and covering it, sir. Thank you. Good to see you.