Dhaka, Sept. 22 -- The recent spike in apocalyptic AI warnings from Anthropic, OpenAI and others could reflect genuine fears about this rapidly advancing technology's threat to humanity, but it may also signal a more prosaic fear about the Chinese threat to US tech firms' business models. As Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping prepare to meet in Washington this week, the two countries could be entering a new phase in the AI arms race.

Financial markets have long worried about US tech's mountainous borrowing to fuel the AI buildout, but these anxieties have been compounded in recent weeks by a sudden burst of doomsday scenarios floated and promoted by industry insiders.

The recent wave of AI "doomerism" kicked off on Sept 8 when forme...