Trump Set to Meet Xi Amid Congressional AI Debate

The Trump administration is refusing to collaborate with the newly appointed deputy head of the United Nations refugee agency, according to Reuters.

Tressa Rae Finerty, an American who took on the role of deputy high commissioner at UNHCR earlier this month, has taken leave while she seeks a waiver from the US government that would enable her to perform parts of her duties, as reported by seven diplomatic sources.

Her treatment by Washington, which had previously considered cutting ties with the agency, is viewed by several diplomats as a retaliatory action after UNHCR chose not to go with Washington’s preferred candidate, Simon Hankinson.

A State Department spokesperson stated they could not comment on ongoing legal matters. “We work with and through UNHCR when doing so advances US foreign policy interests,” said the spokesperson.

12.21pm BST

Trump to meet with China’s Xi as Congress mulls bill banning artificial superintelligence

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

Donald Trump will be meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping later today before his three-day visit, where artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to be a key topic of discussion.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged both nations to create a dialogue about AI similar to what occurred between the US and Soviet Union during the Cold War.

“Governments with the greatest AI capabilities have the greatest responsibilities to humanity, to establish channels for dialogue, transparency, trust and cooperation,” Guterres mentioned.

Tech leaders including Jeff Bezos from Amazon, Sundar Pichai from Alphabet, Sam Altman from Open AI, Tim Cook from Apple, Elon Musk of Tesla, Mark Zuckerberg from Meta and Jensen Huang from Nvidia are set to attend a state dinner at the White House this Thursday evening.

This comes as two prominent progressive lawmakers in the US-Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Greg Casar-are planning to unveil legislation later today aimed at banning artificial superintelligence and establishing a federal agency dedicated to overseeing advanced AI development.

The bill shared first with Associated Press would also pause advanced AI development until guidelines are put in place while creating a Department of Artificial Intelligence. Many employees at leading AI companies support this bill.

“It doesn’t take a genius to say, ‘slow it down,’” Sanders remarked in an interview with AP. “Do we really want to develop a super intelligence that when it becomes smarter than human beings could act independently of human control? I don’t think we do.”

So far Congress hasn’t done much in regulating the AI industry despite warnings from some industry leaders about potentially catastrophic risks ahead.

Xi left Beijing on Wednesday en route for Joint Base Andrews in Maryland where he will be greeted by Trump upon arrival on the tarmac.

“President Xi Jinping left Beijing by special plane for a state visit to the United States” along with his wife Peng Liyuan and key officials such as Cai Qi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi,” reported state broadcaster CCTV.

In other developments:

While speaking at the UN General Assembly recently, Donald Trump reiterated his threat to “annihilate” Iran if they don’t comply or reach an agreement.” He also mentioned he was “working closely with leaders from Russia and Ukraine” toward ending their ongoing conflict; defended actions taken in Latin America-including efforts leading up to arresting former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; justified drone strikes against boats in both Caribbean and Pacific regions; accused Mexico’s government of being effectively run by cartels; and stated it was “unacceptable” for America to share borders under such circumstances. He pointed out regime change initiatives in Cuba and expressed rejection towards any proposals aimed at establishing “globalist control” over artificial intelligence technology.

Soon after his address at the UN gathering ended , Trump finalized an agreement concerning Greenland which its Prime Minister Jens-Frederick Nielsen stated “underlines NATO alliance’s importance.” In carefully constructed phrases she noted that deal acknowledges America’s defining historical contributions towards securing Greenland while simultaneously honoring Denmark’s sovereignty alongside Greenland’s right towards self-determination.”

Dismissing questions raised regarding media coverage during Tuesday press conference held within context surrounding events occurring there , CNN reporter caught up one-on-one briefly asking him about why he felt surprised seeing them present given ban imposed just days earlier prohibiting network access along Politico & MS Now platforms thereafter following Friday announcements announcing new policies related directly affecting these outlets’ opportunities covering White House affairs moving forward…

Diving deeper into healthcare topics during joint press briefing held together recently were Vice President JD Vance & Mehmet Oz who serves currently head position managing Centers Medicare Medicaid Services announced upcoming changes impacting approximately 760 thousand individuals enrolled under Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces moving forward.

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