Trump warns U.S. can’t fall behind in the global AI race

President Donald Trump on Sunday downplayed calls for federal checks on artificial intelligence development. His remarks followed weekend calls by the CEOs of Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceXAI for a slowdown of AI’s growth so more safety checks could be installed.

Trump told reporters during a weekend trip to Ireland that there was a need for some regulation. But he said that the United States can’t afford to fall behind China in the global race to develop the technology. Whoever will win with AI wins, Trump said. The president later told reporters he wasn’t downplaying the risks of AI, but assured them AI would produce more good results than bad.

What did the CEOs say? Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei posted an essay Saturday stating why the AI industry should slacken its pace. He said it should be slowed enough to give researchers one to two years to implement protective measures. If AI continued unchecked, the technology could lead a swarm of AI agents to take over the internet within six to 12 months, Amodei said. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a reply post said he agreed with Amodei. Elon Musk, who leads SpaceXAI, simply added that Amodei was right.

The CEOs’ remarks came days after Anthropic published a report detailing how it blocked potential misuse of its tech, possibly for the purpose of developing chemical weapons.

Dig deeper: Read Daisy Sachoff’s report on why an Anthropic researcher quit his job last week.