The AI “cold war” seems to have already begun. Washington and Beijing launch rival development projects, and the US rallies its allies.
There AI race it has already turned into a sort of cold war between Washington and Beijing. This race is not just about releasing chatbots and AI models, but also about computation, semiconductors, and critical raw materials.
A recent letter, seen exclusively by Reuters and confirmed by American officials, confirms once again how the AI challenge is now emerging as one of the most critical and important for the two global superpowers.
The USA to partners: “Choose a side”
“Being part of everything means being part of nothing”, we read in the letter, “the signing of the Declaration of Pax Silica it is not simply an adhesion, but a commitment”, hence the exhortation to partner countries to “choose consciously” when it comes to AI.
“It cannot coexist with joining redundant initiatives whose expectations are at odds with ours”, we read in the letter in a not too veiled reference to Beijing’s initiatives.
An American official interviewed by Reuters explained that “it is difficult to understand how a country can credibly present itself as a reliable partner in a technological ecosystem and, at the same time, join an initiative created by China to promote a competing vision of artificial intelligence”.
The reasons for the ultimatum
The letter, drafted by the US Department of State, has been prepared and will soon be addressed to the signatory countries of the Joint Statement on AI Opportunitythat is, to those who have expressed the desire to align their AI cooperation with that of Washington.
In fact, in July, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a rival organization, the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organizationpromoting his country’s open-weight and open-source technology, in what is a direct challenge to US influence in the AI sector.
To date, there is only one country that has signed both initiatives, the Kazakhstanbut that was enough to set off alarm bells in Washington.
The clash over supply chains
There Pax Silicalaunched by the Trump administration in December last year as a flagship initiative of the State Department, aims to build a coalition of allies around secure supply chains for critical minerals, energy, semiconductors and AI infrastructure.
The Declaration promotes coordinated investments, combats “non-market practices” and aims for a shared and trusted ecosystem of developers and suppliers.
Italy is also among the signatory countrieswhich officially entered the initiative at the end of July 2026, while the Joint Statement on AI Opportunity outlines alignment with Washington.
On the other bank, the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO), launched by Xi Jinping on 16 July 2026 in Shanghai with 29 signatory countries, today 30 with the entry of Iran, and UN Secretary General Guterres at the ceremony.
Mainly oriented towards the Global Southpromotes the strengths of China’s AI ecosystem, namely open-source and open-weight, as well as access to computing for developing countries, cross-border data flows and 5,000 AI training places in five years, as well as the Mazu weather system expanded to 30 nations.
In short, what seems to be shaping up as the challenge of the century has already begun.
