U.S. warns AI partners against deep ties with competing initiatives

The United States is warning that trusted AI partnerships have limits: countries cannot deeply engage with competing initiatives and still expect Washington’s trust. The State Department’s position, reported by The Associated Press on October 24, challenges countries such as Kazakhstan that have joined both the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative and a China-backed AI organization.

The warning concerns engagement that advances a competing vision for what the Trump administration calls “super intelligence.” AP describes China as Pax Silica’s implicit target. Washington’s position challenges the effort to draw benefits from both groupings, although how it will apply that standard remains unresolved.

Two partnerships, different benefits

Pax Silica focuses on the physical and industrial foundations of AI. Kazakhstan’s government describes it as an initiative to develop trusted supply chains spanning critical minerals, semiconductors, data centers, energy, manufacturing, research and talent. For Kazakhstan, the stated opportunities include attracting investment and moving beyond raw-material exports into higher-value production.

The World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, or WAICO, offers a different channel: an intergovernmental body for AI cooperation and governance. Representatives of 29 countries signed its founding agreement in Shanghai on July 16, according to China’s government. Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Pakistan and Russia were among them. The agreement provides for headquarters in Shanghai.

Countries joining the Chinese initiative hope to gain a voice in regional and global AI standards, AP reports. Beijing presents the organization as open and inclusive. In a statement to AP, China’s embassy in Washington urged the two powers to use their respective strengths rather than guard against one another.

Kazakhstan has already joined both

Kazakhstan’s overlapping commitments predate the newly reported warning. It signed its Pax Silica accession declaration in Washington on June 25, less than a month before signing WAICO’s founding agreement. Deputy Prime Minister and AI Minister Zhaslan Madiyev signed the U.S.-linked documents on Kazakhstan’s behalf.

Its government’s announcement identifies concrete ambitions for the American partnership: processing critical minerals, developing components for batteries and semiconductors, building computing infrastructure and expanding research cooperation. Those are goals and opportunities, not guarantees of completed projects. The accompanying AI Opportunity Partnership also calls for private-sector involvement, including venture investment and research partnerships.

Dana Masalimova, a former Kazakh diplomat and Harvard center associate, told AP that Kazakhstan benefits from both U.S. and Chinese investment but occupies a precarious position. Its critical minerals and inexpensive electricity make it attractive for AI development and data centers. She described countries as hedging rather than wanting a binary choice.

Other countries resist an either-or choice

Indonesia, another WAICO founding member, is making that preference explicit. Mari Pangestu, vice chair of its National Economic Council, told reporters at a University of Hong Kong Business School event that Indonesia wants to benefit from both powers and choose the best system. Singapore says it is also considering joining China’s organization.

Kyle Chan, a fellow at Brookings’ John L. Thornton China Center, told AP that Beijing needs to court third countries to build an alternative coalition, while Washington already has a powerful network of allies. That gives what he calls “swing countries” leverage. The U.S. warning tests how much freedom those countries will retain to use it.