China’s intelligence chief warns of risks from AI as ‘new arena for strategic rivalry’

China's top intelligence chief has cautioned of growing national security risks stemming from artificial intelligence (AI), advocating for stringent risk mitigation strategies and enhanced global oversight of the technology. This warning from Chen Yixin, China's State Security Minister, arises as Beijing strives to assume a leading role in global AI governance while criticizing US regulatory measures.

At the recent Brics summit in India, Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced an AI-driven plan to spur industrialization and enhance supply chain collaboration within the emerging economies coalition. Chen emphasized AI as a critical geopolitical arena, an arena where major powers are increasingly locked in strategic competition.

The article, penned for China Cyberspace, a publication managed by the Cyberspace Administration of China, was released on the journal's social media platform on Sunday. Chen urged maintaining security boundaries while capitalizing on new possibilities, highlighting the dangers of AI advancement. The technology could significantly impact ideological security, potentially being exploited by adversarial entities to disseminate misinformation and mass-produce harmful content.

Chen also cautioned about the technology's potential to jeopardize critical information infrastructure, arguing that next-generation US-led models, such as Anthropic's Claude Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.5-Cyber, could substantially lower the technical barriers and costs associated with launching sophisticated cyberattacks. Foreign intelligence agencies are reportedly leveraging smart web crawlers, data mining, and profiling technologies to gather sensitive data, including critical state information, business secrets, and personal details.

Chen also cautioned about data leaks resulting from careless users processing confidential information through foreign AI tools. He pointed to open-source AI agents like OpenClaw, which have structural weaknesses that could enable remote device control and sensitive data breaches. Chen further warned of the widening development gap stemming from AI monopolies, accusing the dominant tech powers of dismantling the global AI supply chain through measures such as entity listings, technological controls, monopolizing industry standards, and constructing closed-source ecosystems.

While Chen did not name specific countries, his remarks appeared to reference the broader US-China rivalry, where Washington has openly declared its intent to prevent China from overtaking it in AI development. On Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that if the US falls behind China in AI development, "nothing else would matter."

As part of a burgeoning tech conflict, the US has imposed restrictions on Chinese firms across various sectors, including chip supply, investment, market access, and talent exchange. Chen also called for bolstering early-warning systems and public alerts to expose foreign attempts to employ AI for espionage, state secrets theft, disinformation campaigns, and strategic containment against China.

The world must "resolutely resist hegemonism, technological barriers, and exclusive blocs," and create a "fair and open international AI rules system," he wrote. China is actively developing multilateral platforms for global AI governance. In July, 29 nations, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Pakistan, and Indonesia, signed a landmark agreement in Shanghai to create the World AI Cooperation Organisation (Waico), a China-backed entity.

Waico aims to assist Global South countries in building technical capacity and establish a worldwide AI governance framework that acknowledges national policy differences.