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Time to pick an AI side

The Trump administration is pressing 35 countries to choose between Washington’s Pax Silica AI coalition and China’s rival bloc

IMEN BEN YOUSSEF / Getty Images

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The Trump administration is about to tell three dozen countries they can't sit on the fence in the AI contest with China anymore. A draft State Department letter, reviewed by Reuters, warns the 35 signatories of the U.S. "AI Opportunity Statement" that joining Washington's Pax Silica coalition is incompatible with also being part of Beijing's rival bloc.

Kazakhstan is the reason this letter exists at all. It's the only country that has joined both camps, and Reuters reported that U.S. officials saw the dual membership as cause for alarm. The letter's language is pretty unambiguous about what that means going forward. Signing the Pax Silica declaration "is not merely a membership subscription, but a commitment."

The economics of an ultimatum

Pax Silica launched last December as a State........

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