Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
There’s no “intense rivalry behind the scenes” between JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the vice president argues on “Interesting Times.” Opinion columnist Ross Douthat asks the Vice President what happens to his political future if the Iran deal goes badly.
Watch the full episode: youtu.be/qNsK4HQDAdA?si=18HS2IMs-7F6sDks
There’s no “intense rivalry behind the scenes” between JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the vice president argues on “Interesting Times.” Opinion columnist Ross Douthat asks the Vice President what happens to his political future if the Iran deal goes badly.
Watch the full episode: youtu.be/qNsK4HQDAdA?si=18HS2IMs-7F6sDks

![The U.S. and China Are Not In An A.I. Race | Interesting Times with Ross Douthat
The United States and China are really the only two countries that matter right now in shaping the A.I. future. As President Trump and President Xi Jinping meet in Beijing, there’s a kind of Cold War atmosphere, with people talking about an A.I. arms race. But who is winning? Are we even in a race at all? Kyle Chan, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, says it’s hard to call it a race because the U.S. and China have very different A.I. goals.
00:00:13 U.S. vs. China in A.I.
00:03:30 Everyday A.I. in China
00:07:30 The trillion dollar chip question
00:12:10 Chinas A.I. advantage
00:15:30 Chinas public mood on A.I.
00:19:10 A.I., job displacement and social concerns
00:22:10 Robots for Chinas labor shortage
00:26:00] Chinas view on Americas AGI fixation
00:31:00 Distilling A.I. models
00:38:50 U.S. needs more A.I. deployment
00:42:20 U.S. chip policy and the hawks argument
Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com.
Read the full transcript here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/opinion/china-trump-ai-xi.html
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