Trump Minimizes AI Risks, Emphasizes US Leadership

US President Donald Trump has downplayed concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) following warnings from experts, asserting that the US must maintain its lead over China, according to the BBC. Speaking during a visit to Ireland, Trump said, “You have a lot of very negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up and they’re bringing up things that won’t happen.”

Trump did not directly address the warnings, but emphasized the importance of staying ahead in the AI race, stating, “We’re leading China on AI… and, frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins.”

Industry Leaders Call for Caution in AI Development

Earlier in the week, a former Anthropic researcher warned that “there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future” if the current pace of AI development continued. Jacob Coxon, a former researcher at Anthropic and OpenAI, said staff working on AI systems were “genuinely frightened” for the future of humanity.

Coxon, who recently left Anthropic, supported the idea of a slowdown but stressed the need for coordination with China. On Saturday, major AI figures, including Elon Musk of xAI and Sam Altman of OpenAI, backed a slowdown advocated by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Amodei argued that slowing the pace of development would help reduce the risk of serious errors.

Amodei also noted that any slowdown would have to be limited to avoid allowing China to surpass the US in AI capabilities, highlighting the strategic and competitive stakes involved.

Political and Industry Calls for Regulation

The weekend statements from AI executives have sparked discussion in Washington, where lawmakers are under increasing pressure to address the risks associated with rapid AI development. On Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, the top Republican in the House, urged caution about rushing AI regulation. Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Johnson said, “If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose the race to China, and that is a threat to every single American.”

On the other side of the aisle, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for “decisive action” by lawmakers, arguing that the US should slow the pace of development to protect the American people and ensure AI is developed safely. Jeffries made the comments on ABC’s “This Week.”

Meanwhile, tech investor David Sacks, who serves on Trump’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, urged AI companies to regulate themselves. Sacks posted on X: “Stop pretending you need anyone else’s permission. So go ahead and pace the frontier. You are the ones setting it… Demanding your preferred regulatory framework as the price of that will look like blackmail of the public and the political system. So just do it.”

Despite these differing views, there is some bipartisan agreement on the need for oversight. In July, a group of House Democrats and Republicans introduced the Frontier Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at establishing a national safety and oversight framework for AI. Rep. Lori Trahan, a Massachusetts Democrat and co-author of the bill, said on X: “Safety researchers are resigning, powerful AI models are breaking out of their labs, and companies are racing ahead anyway. It’s past time for Congress to get off the sidelines and do its job.”