Implementing a China-US AI incident notification mechanism

US research institute IAPS released a report proposing operational plans for the AI incident notification mechanism already agreed between China and the US, including notification templates, division of responsibilities among counterpart agencies and trigger conditions. The report says the US side proposed establishing an AI incident notification mechanism affecting national security after the September 20 meeting between Treasury Secretary Bessent and Vice Premier He Lifeng, and the two countries subsequently agreed at the summit between Trump and Xi Jinping. The report recommends an email-style asynchronous text channel rather than a telephone hotline, because Chinese grassroots officials generally lack the authority to speak impromptu with foreign parties; the mechanism would initially be handled directly by Bessent and He Lifeng, then delegated to counterpart agencies by type, such as frontier model accidents, non-military AI cyber incidents and military AI incidents. The report also provides a notification form including incident summary, scope of impact and confidence level, lists trigger conditions such as an incident being cross-border or potentially misread as a hostile act, and recommends strengthening binding force with an MOU and exchanging views on recent incidents once every two weeks.