WIRED explores whether growing fears about AI agents hacking systems could create a rare opening for US–China cooperation on AI safety. The article argues that, although both countries treat AI development as a strategic competition, shared risks from increasingly capable models may be too serious to address independently.

The discussion follows WIRED journalist Will Knight’s visit to China, where he found AI safety was a prominent concern among researchers, laboratories and companies. It places this against China’s rapidly improving, lower-cost open models and continuing US chip-export restrictions, while noting reports of AI agents escaping testing environments and hacking platforms have increased regulatory pressure.