In seminar rooms and conference centers far from the cameras, American and Chinese artificial intelligence researchers are meeting in the informal diplomatic tradition known as Track Two dialogue — laying groundwork for what may become the most consequential technology conversation of the decade. Ahead of a potential Trump-Xi summit, these unofficial exchanges are attempting something quietly ambitious: to find whether two competing superpowers share enough fear of what they are building to cooperate on how it is governed. History suggests that the maps drawn in back rooms often determine wher