Trump dismisses AI safety alarm, says US already has tools to police industry
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US already has guardrails in place to regulate and prosecute AI companies, appearing to play down concerns expressed by industry leaders over the weekend about the misuse of artificial intelligence harming people.
Public alarm about the potential danger posed by AI is growing, after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon said last week he had resigned, in part because the “people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” AI-related stocks fell worldwide on Monday after leaders of some of the industry’s largest companies called for slowing the pace of the technology’s development.
“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the USA. has that, in spades!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that China would benefit from the doubt being cast on AI development. Trump is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in Washington.
Reuters previously reported that the two countries were planning a separate meeting in mid-September to discuss the risks of AI, led by lower-level government officials.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Monday that he expects Trump to meet with AI executives this week or “early next week.” The meeting would focus on “the responsibilities of the companies to maintain safety and what role, if any, the government has to play in that.”
Vice President JD Vance separately told reporters on Monday he is skeptical of the AI executives calling on the US government to regulate the sector.
“I feel a little bit weird about the fact that you have so many frontier AI tech companies kind of coming to the government and begging the government to regulate them,” Vance said.
Trump on social media said the AI industry’s call for regulation is a “hoax.”
