NYT editorial board calls for coordinated US-China AI slowdown, citing Cold War nuclear talks
BlackHC · x · 2026-09-22
The New York Times editorial board has formally called for the US to seek a coordinated AI slowdown with China, modeling it on Cold War nuclear talks with the Soviet Union. As the quoted post notes, the board publishes only 5-10 such editorials a year, making this a serious institutional position the Times must now defend and build on. Its core argument: human society can restrain a dangerous innovation once it decides to.
Sharing it, researcher BlackHC backs common-sense regulation, arguing for-profit, founder-controlled companies with diffuse goals and no meaningful independent oversight (e.g. Google, Meta, SpaceX) can't be trusted with self-accountability. He notes the trade-off the Times acknowledges — coordinating a global slowdown while preserving the edge of the free world over China — but remains skeptical that AI resembles nuclear technology enough for global coordination to be workable, given monitoring and enforcement difficulties, with Trump another major complicating factor.
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