"Pax Silica": Washington asks 35 countries to decide between its IA block and Beijing block

A draft letter from the State Department warns that participating in the US framework is incompatible with joining competing initiatives. Beijing responds by invoking the digital sovereignty of everyone.

The United States is preparing to ask its partners to choose between American and Chinese initiatives on artificial intelligence, according to an internal State Department project. The text is addressed to the 35 countries and territories that signed a US declaration on AI opportunities in June, and warns them that belonging to the "Pax Silica" framework cannot be combined with that of "redundant initiatives whose expectations conflict with ours". The formula used — to be of everything is to be of nothing — invites recipients to "choose deliberately."

Pax Silica aims to secure supply chains related to models, semiconductors and critical minerals. About twenty countries have already joined it, including Kazakhstan and close allies such as Japan, Australia and South Korea. On the other hand, Xi Jinping launched a Global Cooperation Organization on Artificial Intelligence in July, which promotes open-weight models.

Beijing's response came through the spokesman for its Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian: China says it rejects the logic of camps and calls for respect for the digital sovereignty of each country rather than the creation of a global AI divide.