Kamala Harris warns the window for AI safeguards is closing, urges US-China cooperation

Kamala Harris has a message for Washington: the clock on artificial intelligence rules is running, and it does not pause for politics. Speaking on October 14, 2026, at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, the former US vice president warned that the opportunity to build internationally recognized AI safeguards is shrinking. Her proposed fix involves the one partner many in Washington would rather not call: China. Three risks and one awkward phone call Harris framed her case around three threats she described as existential. The first is cybersecurity. The second is the possible arrival of AI-enabled weaponry. The third is the prospect of AI systems slipping beyond human oversight. Her central argument was that the US has to actively engage China to set shared international standards and rules for the technology. She pitched this as compatible with rivalry, not a replacement for it. The pitch rests on a simple premise. If the world’s two largest AI powers write separate rulebooks, the gaps between them become the places where the biggest risks live. A consistent drumbeat since September The Seoul address was not a one-off. It builds on positions Harris laid out in Septemb...