Cooperation on artificial intelligence was discussed by US President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping at talks in Beijing last week, Guo said, despite their countries’ fierce rivalry over the fast-evolving technology.

“The two heads of state held constructive discussions on AI-related issues and agreed to launch an intergovernmental dialogue on artificial intelligence,” Guo said, confirming previous remarks by US treasury secretary Scott Bessent.

As major powers in the field, the countries should also work together “to ensure that AI better serves the progress of human civilisation and the common well-being of the international community”, Guo added.

Analysts said before the summit that fears over autonomous AI weapons, cybersecurity and the threat of new AI-designed bioweapons were mutual concerns for Xi and Trump.

In 2024, Xi agreed with Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, that humans must remain in control of the decision to fire nuclear weapons.

But with China set on narrowing the United States’ lead in the strategic sector, until now little further cooperation has followed.

The White House recently accused Chinese entities of “industrial-scale” efforts to steal US technology, while Beijing blocked the acquisition of a Chinese-founded AI agent tool by tech giant Meta.

But at the same time, the AI cybersecurity threat has been highlighted by Mythos, a powerful new model that US startup Anthropic withheld from public release to stop it from being exploited by hackers.

Bessent told CNBC on Thursday that Washington and Beijing would set up a “protocol” on the path forward on AI, particularly “to make sure non-state actors don’t get a hold of these models”.

The world’s “two AI superpowers are going to start talking”, Bessent said.