Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) warned during a Breitbart News policy event Thursday that the United States must prevail in the race to develop artificial intelligence or risk China gaining a dominant global position.
At Breitbart News’s policy event, titled China: The Threats You Know About and the Ones You Don’t, Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle asked Jim Banks what more the United States should do to turn the tide against China and start beating them here as well, beyond its geopolitical efforts.
Banks responded, “We have to win the AI race, and we can’t let the Chinese win it, because we know that if they win it, they’ll seize the moment and dominate us in the process. I’ve always said America can’t lead abroad when we’re weak at home. President Trump is making us strong again. He’s bringing back the Made in America economy, which is fundamental to our strength and our ability to be the leader that America deserves to be around the globe, that we haven’t been for a long time before President Trump.” He continued:
“I think a lot of this comes back to AI, and who gets there first. Does China win the AI race? Do they develop algorithms that cure cancer? Do they use AI to dominate us in the authoritarian ways that we know that they will? We can’t let them do that. We have to win the race, and we can’t turn over the keys to China by by selling ourselves out, our best chips and our best technologies that they can use to beat us.”
He also remarked earlier during the event about how the AI race is “top of mind” to him as President Trump is scheduled to meet dictator Xi Jingping in May: “We can’t sell out our interest by sending our best chips to China and helping their hand over the interest of ours. That’s something that I hope President Trump will focus on in these negotiations and in his meetings in Beijing. Rare earth minerals—how do we decouple ourselves from the leverage that China has over us on rare earth minerals? By investing in that here and in allied countries.”
