President Donald Trump on Sunday downplayed concerns that artificial intelligence could go rogue following calls from several technology industry leaders to put the brakes on its rapid development. Speaking to reporters at his Doonbeg golf resort in Ireland, the president stated that dire warnings regarding AI were exaggerated and that negative forces were making claims about events that will not happen. Trump emphasized that the United States is leading China in artificial intelligence and that he wants to maintain that position because whoever wins AI wins. While noting that the nation can establish guardrails and implement various measures, he criticized those bringing up the issue. House Speaker Mike Johnson echoed similar sentiments during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, asserting that a moratorium on the technology would allow China to surpass the United States. Johnson suggested that tech companies should take the lead in creating safer AI rather than forcing Congress into an emergency regulatory session that could cause the country to lose the global race. These comments followed warnings from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who published an essay calling for companies and governments to slow capability improvements due to risks like human loss of control, cyberattacks, and bioterrorism. Amodei recommended international cooperation and third-party evaluators inside labs, noting Anthropic would adopt such steps unilaterally. Tech leaders Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed agreement with Amodei’s concerns on social media. Altman additionally told Fortune Magazine that he would delay OpenAI going public until at least 2027 and discussed pausing tests to enhance safety. David Sacks, co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, responded on social media by supporting responsible decisions by lab heads, but urged them to stop pretending they need outside permission or that their motivations for slowing down are purely altruistic, noting potential product-liability exposure for damaging cyberattacks.
Source: npr.org
