US President Donald Trump has dismissed warnings over artificial intelligence as exaggerated, saying “very negative forces” are raising fears about scenarios that are unlikely to materialise.
Asked whether AI development should be slowed or subjected to tighter regulation, Trump said his priority was ensuring the United States retained its technological lead over China.
“We are ahead of China in artificial intelligence. We are the most advanced country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins,” Trump told reporters.
Trump acknowledged that safeguards could be introduced but argued that public debate was being driven by excessive pessimism.
“We can put controls in place. We can do this or that,” he said. “But I think there are a lot of very negative forces raising this issue when they should not be and raising things that are not going to happen.”
His comments came amid renewed calls from leading technology executives for greater caution in developing increasingly powerful AI systems.
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Saturday backed a proposal by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to slow the pace of AI development following a series of incidents involving the technology.
Amodei had earlier called for stronger oversight and greater control over AI’s advancement.
The debate intensified after Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned from the California-based company, accusing it of underestimating the potential existential risks that artificial intelligence poses to humanity.
Warnings previously issued by the late theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking about the dangers of uncontrolled AI development have also resurfaced as rapid technological breakthroughs fuel global security and societal concerns.
