US-China AI rivalry escalates into mutual restrictions: The US bans imports of Chinese frontier AI models (e.g., DeepSeek, Qwen, GLM) and tightens semiconductor export controls (including Nvidia chips), while China imposes strict export controls on its advanced models, treating AI as a strategic weapon rather than a global benefit. 

Global fragmentation and risks: This decoupling restricts cross-border AI collaboration, forces countries to pick sides, leads to duplicated efforts, stifles innovation, and reduces smaller nations’ influence on technology standards and supply chains. 

Recommended balanced approach: Countries should avoid full alignment with either superpower, pursue open-source collaboration, build neutral partnerships (e.g., with the EU, India, Japan), and advocate for international ethical frameworks to keep AI as a shared global resource for human progress.

The Trump administration’s attempt to stop the import of Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) and Chinese restrictions on the export of frontier models are developments of great significance to the global digital landscape. Instead of an open and collaborative development of technologies for all of humanity, there is a new form of competition among countries to prevent others from accessing critical technologies to use against them. AI, once hailed as the future of humanity and a technological development to benefit everyone, is now viewed increasingly as a weapon of mass disruption that can be used to outcompete other countries.

The United States’ Executive Order also makes for a very interesting read. For the first time, the AI models developed by Chinese companies like DeepSeek, Qwen and GLM are characterised by the White House as........

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