The Trump administration is pursuing the creation of an AI Force as part of its broader strategy to maintain technological leadership amid intensifying geopolitical competition. The proposal has reignited policy debates over how aggressively the U.S. should pursue AI development versus implementing regulatory safeguards, with lawmakers proposing so-called "kill switch" mechanisms to control potentially dangerous AI systems. These discussions, however, continue to collide with concerns about competitive disadvantage relative to China, which has its own ambitious AI agenda and poses existential challenges to U.S. technological dominance. With a Trump-Xi meeting scheduled, the episode examines the prospects for U.S.-China cooperation on AI governance despite deep strategic rivalry. The two powers represent competing regulatory philosophies: the U.S. leans toward innovation-first approaches while pursuing selective national security protections, while China pursues state-directed AI development. Both countries view AI as central to future geopolitical power, creating a catch-22 where calls for AI slowdowns run headlong into fears of falling behind a competitor. In related business developments, Anthropic has delayed its long-anticipated IPO while simultaneously announcing a new biology research lab, signaling expansion beyond language models. Separately, data center debt markets are showing signs of stress as the capital-intensive infrastructure supporting AI development faces financing headwinds.