Trump rejects tech leaders’ calls to slow AI development
Donald Trump says the United States must preserve its lead over China in artificial intelligence, while offering no details on the regulation or safeguards he would support.
US President Donald Trump has dismissed calls from leading technology executives to slow artificial intelligence development, arguing that the United States should not risk surrendering its position to China.
Speaking to reporters during his trip to Ireland, Trump said his administration could introduce “guardrails” and other measures, but did not outline a regulatory framework. He said he wanted to maintain the US lead because, in his view, “whoever wins AI wins”.
The comments followed a call from Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei for the industry to slow the improvement of AI capabilities, allowing more time to develop safeguards. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Elon Musk publicly supported the proposal.
Former White House AI czar David Sacks said AI companies could slow development independently. He argued that demanding a preferred regulatory system as a condition for doing so would amount to pressure on the public and political system.
The debate has intensified after former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher Jacob Coxon resigned publicly over concerns that AI could surpass human control. US lawmakers Josh Gottheimer and Mike Lawler have introduced a bipartisan House bill aimed at preventing AI from operating without human oversight, according to Al Jazeera Global News.
AI regulation has also become an election-cycle issue as computing warehouses expand across US communities, prompting concerns about water supplies and electricity costs. Trump has continued to support data centres despite reported public opposition.
