OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Warns U.S. May Be Underestimating China’s AI Progress

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman cautioned that the U.S. risks underestimating China’s rapid progress in artificial intelligence, according to CNBC. Speaking to a group of reporters in San Francisco, Altman said China has advantages in inference capacity and warned that the U.S.–China AI race is far more complex than a simple comparison of who is ahead. He expressed skepticism that limiting GPU exports would slow China’s development, noting that companies could build fabrication plants or find workarounds. Washington has tightened policies to curb China’s AI ambitions, with Biden imposing stricter export controls and Trump later halting advanced chip supplies entirely. The U.S. allowed sales of “China-safe” chips under a revenue-sharing deal with Nvidia and AMD, but the patchwork policy raises doubts as Chinese firms advance with domestic alternatives.