Elon Musk predicts that machines will outnumber humans by the year 2040, which makes understanding the promise and the threats posed by Artificial Intelligence crucial, especially as a race between the US and China for global AI dominance.
Wynton Hall, author of the just-released book Code Red: The Left, the Right, China, and the Race to Control AI, joined Sunday Morning Futures to explain what most people overlook about the AI race with China —the political money flows and Washington connections surrounding Anthropic that no one notices.
A critical part of AI research is called “recursive self-improvement” (RSI). It is how machines learn to make better decisions over time. Hall’s book argues that the first country to gain decisive leverage over it 
will have the edge in cybersecurity, weapons systems, and critical infrastructure.
“We do not want to live in a world built on Chinese AI rails. Not economically. Not militarily,” Hall tells host Maria Bartiromo. “RSI is going to give enormous capability to whoever achieves it first, whether it’s us or China, to have control over things like cyber-security, code hacking, hacking weapons systems and infrastructure systems.”
“I think that none of us wants to live in an AI surveillance state, and we’ve got to make sure we preserve our values,” Hall said. “We’ve got to beat China without becoming China.”
“What kind of guardrails do we need with AI agents?” Bartiromo asked. “Are these agents, these robots that we’re going to be buying for the price of a car going to come back and become Terminator on us?”
Hall replies that agentic AI is autonomous but must be tethered to human override. “We have to make sure that those systems have a kill switch in place,” he said. “I think that’s essential. Even when you’re talking about autonomous warfare and weapons, it’s essential, too, that when the commanders on the ground go ‘full auto’ on these weapons, that they can turn them off and make sure that our soldiers, sailors, and airmen and marines are safe,” he warned.
“We’re in a new world, and it’s moving fast.”
Hall’s new book also explores Anthropic, maker of “Claude,” one of the leading AI engines. “One of the biggest things that we’re missing here is the political backstory,” he said. In late February, the Trump administration ordered all US agencies to stop using Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials chastised Anthropic for not allowing the military unrestricted use of its AI technology, accusing the company of endangering national security after its CEO expressed concerns that the company’s products could be used in ways that would violate its safeguards.
“President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are exactly right that they need to be the ones making all lawful uses of the AI technology,” Hall said, noting he uncovered some questionable money flows to the company in researching the book. “There are a lot of political connections that people don’t know about. And I try to cover that in great detail in Code Red.”
Hall, director of social media for Breitbart News, was assisted with research provided by the Government Accountability Institute.
