China will “cheat and steal and lie” in order to beat the United States, Alliance for a Better Future CEO Janet Kelly said during the Breitbart News “State of the Economy” policy event Tuesday.
Discussing the AI arms race between the U.S. and China, host and Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle asked about why it is important that America wins.
Alliance for a Better Future CEO Janet Kelly speaks during the Breitbart News “State of the Economy” policy event Tuesday, September 8, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Dan Fleuette)
“This is a very important question, and it’s not the only reason that our org exists, but it’s one of the ones, and it’s a big reason as to why we have the sense of urgency that we have, because if we hesitate, we’re going to hand the most powerful technology in the world to one of our foreign adversaries,” Kelly said.
“And think about the implications of that: Our very American way of life, the American dream, everything that we hold dear, whether our kids grow up the way we grew up or better, or whether they don’t. And I know none of us want a world where someone’s writing the rise and fall of the American Empire,” she said. “We will not let that happen.”
Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle (left) interviews Alliance for a Better Future CEO Janet Kelly during the Breitbart News “State of the Economy” policy event Tuesday, September 8, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Dan Fleuette)
“But if we hesitate, China will win, and it will have devastating effects,” she said, warning that China has “already proven that they will cheat and steal and lie in order to beat us, backed by their government.”
She continued, “They will. They’re not playing fair.”
Kelly noted that America is the only country in the world that can build AI the world trusts, not just Americans.
“And if we can do that, then we win. And again, I will just say that the window for this is closing for a lot of different reasons. It’s open now, but it’s closing,” Kelly cautioned. “And so that’s why we have the sense of urgency that we have.”
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