Trump Dismisses AI Fears as Tech Leaders Call for Slower Development

President Donald Trump is rejecting calls to slow advanced artificial intelligence development, putting his administration at odds with several prominent AI executives who argue that safety measures need more time to catch up.

 

 

 

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President Donald Trump has sharply rejected growing warnings about advanced artificial intelligence, calling fears of AI escaping human control a “hoax” while arguing that stronger restrictions could weaken American technological leadership.

Trump’s comments drew particular attention Monday when he unexpectedly called Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang during an event in Los Angeles, where their conversation was broadcast to the audience.

“The robots will not be taking over,” Trump told Huang, reinforcing his view that fears surrounding increasingly powerful AI systems have been exaggerated by researchers, executives and political advocates.

The remarks followed an unusually coordinated warning from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Elon Musk and other industry figures who favor slowing frontier AI development.

Amodei warned that rapidly improving autonomous AI agents could eventually create severe cybersecurity threats, arguing that developers need additional time to build safeguards before deploying increasingly capable systems.

His proposal includes independent safety evaluators working closely with AI laboratories, coordination among competing developers, and international cooperation designed to reduce risks without permanently stopping technological progress.

Altman publicly supported the idea of “pacing” frontier development and stronger safety coordination, marking a notable moment because OpenAI and Anthropic compete intensely for customers, researchers, investment and technological leadership.

Musk, whose AI company competes with both OpenAI and Anthropic, also backed Amodei’s call, creating a rare area of agreement among executives who have frequently criticized one another.

Leaders associated with Google have also participated in discussions about stronger coordination and possible shared safety mechanisms, reflecting broader concern about managing increasingly autonomous and capable artificial-intelligence systems.

But Silicon Valley is far from united. Nvidia’s Huang has pushed back against coordinated slowdowns, arguing that companies can address safety while continuing innovation and competing aggressively in global markets.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has similarly resisted proposals for a coordinated industry slowdown, emphasizing individual corporate responsibility and incentives to make products safe rather than additional restrictions on development.

The disagreement reflects Trump’s broader AI policy. His administration has emphasized rapid development, investment and deployment while arguing that excessive regulation could undermine U.S. competitiveness and technological advantages.

At the same time, the administration has not abandoned AI security entirely. A June national-security directive requires advanced government systems to be robust, controllable and deployed with defined accountability structures.

Trump’s March legislative framework also acknowledged concerns involving children, energy costs and public trust, while favoring federal standards intended to avoid conflicting AI rules across individual states.

Competition with China remains central to Trump’s argument. He maintains that slowing American developers could give Chinese companies an opportunity to overtake the United States in a strategically important technology.

That competition is becoming closer. Chinese companies including DeepSeek, Alibaba and other developers have continued improving their models despite American restrictions on access to some advanced semiconductor technology.

China has meanwhile criticized some American AI warnings as fearmongering, while also acknowledging cybersecurity, misinformation and national-security risks associated with increasingly capable artificial-intelligence systems.

Researchers themselves remain divided over the scale and timing of potential danger. There is no scientific consensus establishing when, or whether, advanced AI could become uncontrollable or pose an existential threat.

The debate also extends beyond hypothetical catastrophe, with policymakers examining more immediate concerns including cyberattacks, employment disruption, misinformation, privacy, energy consumption and the rapid expansion of data centers.

For now, the headline captures only part of the divide: some powerful technology leaders are demanding greater caution, while others support Trump’s argument that America should continue accelerating AI development.