Part II: When a Machiavellian and a Charismatic Met

Beijing and Washington announced a commitment to establish the first intergovernmental dialogue on artificial intelligence. The announcement received little attention amid post-summit commentary focused on perceived winners and losers. Skepticism persists because mutual trust is difficult during intense international competition to lead in AI. The piece compares the effort to earlier summit attempts, including Reagan and Gorbachev at Reykjavik in 1986, which failed to eliminate nuclear weapons. It notes that even when deals do not materialize, leaders may later be recognized for broader changes. The current proposal is framed as addressing a potentially cataclysmic global problem before it becomes entrenched like mutually assured destruction.

"Beijing's and Washington's announcement of their commitment to establish the first ever "intergovernmental dialogue" on AI received scant attention in the noisy and highly divergent post-summit parlor game commentary about who gained what, who gained most, who gained nothing, and who lost what. This is probably because of deep skepticism that mutual trust can be achieved in the midst of the current breakneck international competition to win the AI race."

"Those of a certain age can remember the despondent faces of Reagan and Gorbachev, great friends and partners in peace, when they failed at their October 1986 summit in Reykjavík to reach an agreement that had the potential to eliminate all nuclear weapons. Soon after the summit - in 1990, four years later - Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations" but ever after spoke about his sense of personal failure in not making a deal with Reagan."

"At the time, these two leaders of the world's recognized superpowers - the two most politically powerful men on earth in 1986 -- were working in a world where "mutually assured destruction" had become the de-facto solution to avoiding global nuclear war. What Xi and Trump are proposing now is getting ahead of an equally potentially cataclysmic global problem."

"When a gifted political charismatic such as President Trump is paired in negotiation with an equally gifted Machiavellian such as President Xi, history-making deals may happen. So too can epoch-defining disasters."

Read at The Cipher Brief