Washington (United States) (AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed fears that artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity, calling them a hoax and rejecting global calls to put guardrails around the fast-moving technology. Trump’s pushback comes amid growing international alarm about AI, with even some tech bosses saying development of computer super-intelligence needs to slow down. Trump said the United States could not afford to lose a technological race with rival China and insisted the only guardrails necessary were a “STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!”
“AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX,” Trump said in one of a series of posts on his Truth Social network about the subject. Trump compared it to what he called “all the other hoaxes,” including the investigation into ties between his election campaign and Russia, and his impeachment over Ukraine, both in his first term. Earlier, Trump alleged what he called a “SICK conspiracy” against AI and attacked “Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers” who opposed the technology.
The US leader also lashed out at Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei, who called on Saturday for AI companies to ease the pace of development, and at other firms. “The Trump Administration has stopped AI ‘people’ from doing bad, or potentially bad, ‘things,’ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel’,” the US president wrote. Trump — who has made AI data centers central to his economic plans — questioned why AI firms want regulation that “will drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy.”
He also trained his fire on Google, urging it to rethink plans for a $15 billion AI investment in Finland, which he blamed on “finding permitting too difficult in the United States.” But the 80-year-old Republican faces a growing backlash from US voters amid the mounting fears that AI could wipe out humanity by creating pathogens or triggering nuclear war. A majority of Americans is also opposed to energy-guzzling AI data centers, which have become a major issue in crucial US midterm elections in November.
Amodei — whose firm Anthropic makes the hugely successful AI system Claude — was quickly backed by OpenAI boss Sam Altman and by former Trump ally Elon Musk, who also owns xAI. The latest warnings were sparked after OpenAI developers reported scares in which AI models broke out of what were supposed to be secure testing spaces, reached the internet and coordinated to attack Hugging Face, a site where code is stored.
Billionaire property tycoon Trump has long portrayed AI as crucial for maintaining America’s technological, economic and security lead over China. Trump said that Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he will host at the White House next week, had “just announced that China will be doing absolutely nothing to stand in the way of AI, or its future.” But Beijing is worried, too. China’s spy chief warned on Sunday that artificial intelligence endangers the country’s national security, saying foreign powers could use the technology to threaten social order.
Minister of State Security Chen Yixin wrote in an article that AI was now “the main battleground for global technological competition and a new track for major power strategic rivalry.” He singled out Anthropic’s Claude Mythos and OpenAI’s ChatGPT-5.5-Cyber for their advanced hacking capabilities that potentially “pose serious risks to China’s critical information infrastructure.” Global concerns about AI and a possible extinction event have dramatically escalated in recent days.
The UN Security Council will hold a meeting on artificial intelligence next week amid growing international concern, a French diplomatic source said Monday. United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk called Monday for countries and artificial intelligence companies to act urgently to rein in a technology he warned posed “unprecedented risks.” Even Britain’s King Charles III will host representatives of leading AI firms for a gathering in Scotland, a source close to the event said Monday, as the worries mount.
© 2024 AFP
