Morocco has joined a US-led coalition on artificial intelligence, aligning with Washington's framework for securing the supply chains behind advanced AI. The State Department's Economic Affairs account announced the move on October 1, listing Morocco among 19 countries that newly endorsed the Joint Statement on AI Opportunity Partnership. This brings the coalition to 54 countries, with the new members joining during the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week in September.
The AI Opportunity Partnership is a US-led framework whose signatories commit to pro-innovation regulation and to aligning their super intelligence supply chains with those of the United States and Pax Silica economies. The Joint Statement sets a foundation for cooperation between the United States and strategic partners on what the text calls super intelligence. Signatories commit to a regulatory environment that supports growth and innovation, empowering startups, developers, and the private sector.
The expansion is accelerating amid an increasingly hard-edged strategic contest with China. In July, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, or WAICO, pitching open-source technology as a challenge to US influence. The body signed up 29 member countries and positioned itself as a rival to Pax Silica. Xi cast China as a champion for the Global South, warning against "new historical injustices" from unequal access to the technology.
The competition has pushed Washington to press partners toward a choice. A draft State Department letter reviewed by Reuters warned the statement's signatories that alignment with the United States cannot sit alongside membership in competing frameworks. "To be part of everything is to be part of nothing," the letter read, urging countries to "choose deliberately." A US official put it plainly: "you can't have it both ways."
Beijing has rejected the approach, opposing politicizing trade and technology, and warning that such actions "will only stifle global AI advances and serve no one's interests." Despite this, the two governments have opened a formal channel. During Xi's summit with US President Donald Trump at the White House last month, Washington and Beijing agreed to establish the US-China Super Intelligence Dialogue, with the first talks scheduled for November.
The US-China Super Intelligence Dialogue signals that the contest over AI standards and supply chains will play out alongside direct talks between its two principal rivals. Future discussions could cover protocols for responding to critical threats, including uncontrollable autonomous AI agents and the spread of cyber and biological weapons capabilities to non-state actors. This framework is meant to facilitate exchanges on the risks and benefits of AI.
Morocco's UN Ambassador Omar Hilale was pictured with representatives of countries endorsing the US-led AI Opportunity Partnership. The additions bring new opportunities for US firms seeking "more trusted suppliers and more open markets." Jacob Helberg, the US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, tied the statement to a contest over capacity, arguing that "the future of AI will not be determined by who regulates first, but by who builds first and builds the most capacity."
Key points
- Morocco joins 19 other countries in endorsing the US-led AI Opportunity Partnership.
- The partnership aims to align super intelligence supply chains with those of the US and Pax Silica economies.
- The move is part of a growing strategic contest between the US and China over AI standards and influence.
