US President Donald Trump has rejected calls for a broad slowdown in artificial-intelligence development, saying the United States must preserve its lead over China. Speaking to reporters during a trip to Ireland, Trump said that “whoever wins AI wins”, according to Al Jazeera.
Trump said his administration could introduce “guardrails” and other measures but did not provide details. He argued that some warnings about AI were being raised by people who were describing risks he believed would not occur.
His comments followed a call from Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei for the industry to slow the pace at which AI capabilities improve, allowing more time to build safeguards. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman agreed with Amodei, while Elon Musk also publicly backed the warning.
The debate intensified after former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher Jacob Coxon resigned publicly over concerns that AI could eventually surpass human control. Al Jazeera reported that the resignation prompted calls from several US lawmakers for legislation governing AI development.
Democratic Representative Josh Gottheimer and Republican Representative Mike Lawler introduced a bipartisan House bill aimed at preventing AI systems from operating without human oversight. The issue has also become linked to the rapid construction of computing data centres across the United States.
Those facilities have raised concerns about pressure on water supplies and higher electricity bills. Trump has continued to support data centres despite their reported unpopularity. Former White House AI czar David Sacks said companies should slow development themselves if they believe that is necessary, rather than seeking their preferred regulatory framework as a condition for action.