At a moment when artificial intelligence has become both an engine of national ambition and a source of shared risk, the United States has proposed to China a formal system for alerting one another to significant AI-related incidents. Treasury Secretary Bessent's public confirmation of these talks signals that even fierce rivals can recognize the limits of unilateral control over technologies whose consequences respect no border. The proposal does not pause the competition — it asks whether competition and a minimum of mutual transparency can coexist.