China should play a key role in shaping the artificial intelligence guardrails needed to ensure the safety of transformative new systems, OpenAI Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said.

"With the emergence of the increasingly powerful AI systems, the stakes for global cooperation have never been higher,” Altman, whose company kick-started an AI frenzy in China with last year’s launch of ChatGPT, told a Beijing conference via video link on Saturday.

In both China and Silicon Valley, talent and investments are flowing into AI, a strategic area that will help define the deepening tech rivalry between the world’s two largest economies. Advances in the emerging technology have also highlighted tensions in how governments are seeking to regulate the sector, one that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has said requires greater state oversight to mitigate national security risks.