By Bo Erickson and Padraic Halpin
DOONBEG, Ireland, Sept 13 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday a lot of “very negative forces” are bringing things up about AI that won’t happen and said that he wanted to make sure that the United States remains the industry leader.
“We’re leading China in AI. We’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins,” Trump, at his Ireland golf course, told reporters when asked if the AI industry should slow down or be more regulated.
“We could put guardrails. We can do this and that. But I think you have a lot of very negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up and they’re bringing up things that won’t happen.”
Trump has resisted stirring concerns about AI.
His latest comments come after a week of concerns in the United States after two Anthropic researchers issued warnings that rapidly progressing artificial intelligence could lead to the extinction of the human race in the not-too-distant future.
In his second term, Trump’s administration has largely embraced AI firms. These AI leaders and other technology companies have also supported Trump’s initiatives.
Yet, the Pentagon earlier this year warned of risks from Anthropic’s model.
After the researcher warnings, some AI CEOs are pushing for slowing advancement of the models.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Saturday outlined a three-step framework intended to pace development and create more time to manage its risks.
Jacob Coxon, one of the Anthropic researchers who resigned and then issued the warnings, pushed for the U.S. to work with other countries to ensure pace.
“I feel we need international coordination, or else we risk running the same race with China, which could be equally dangerous,” Coxon said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson; additional reporting from Joseph Ax; Writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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