Six U.S. corporations at the forefront of artificial intelligence signed an accord this week called the “Joint Commitment on Frontier Responsibilities.” It is neither a contract nor law, but a voluntary agreement that President Donald Trump calls “morally binding.” The United States now has a foundation for an emerging domestic AI safety architecture. But we must also remain focused on establishing an international system to mitigate cross-border AI frontier threats.

The American corporate AI accord was signed on Sept. 29, five days after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Washington for a U.S.-China summit in which AI was prominently featured. The moment was historically significant. If the U.S.-China rivalry is becoming or has become a second Cold War, AI is emerging as its defining technology, as well as an industrial revolution of its own. Yet the summit produced only a modest first step toward managing that transformation: the U.S. and China agreed to establish a communication channel dedicated to AI-related incidents.