President Trump dismisses calls for an AI slowdown, saying "you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn't be bringing it up" (Myles McCormick/Financial Times)

President Donald Trump suggested on Sunday that exaggerated concerns regarding artificial intelligence (AI) were being raised by negative forces, warning that the quickly advancing technology could lead to the extinction of the human race in the near future. The US leader expressed his desire to maintain the nation's leadership in AI, emphasizing that whoever emerges victorious in the AI race would be the one to benefit.

Trump claimed that the US currently leads China in AI, highlighting his country's superiority in the field.

During a press conference at his golf course in Ireland, Trump proposed that implementing guardrails and regulations could help in managing the pace of AI development. However, the president acknowledged the presence of very negative forces pushing for the issue, claiming that these forces were bringing up scenarios that were unlikely to occur. Trump's administration has largely embraced AI firms during his second term, and AI leaders and other technology companies have shown support for the administration's initiatives.

AI executives have invested significant funds in the midterm campaign ahead of the November 3 election, with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's super PAC, America PAC, having already spent millions backing Republican candidates and playing a crucial role in voter turnout efforts. The Pentagon has also issued warnings about the risks associated with Anthropic's model. In response to the researchers' warnings, some AI CEOs have called for slowing down the advancement of AI models.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei outlined a three-step framework to pace development and create more time to manage the risks associated with AI. The proposal received endorsements from several other executives at major AI companies, including Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Amodei acknowledged the intense competition between US and Chinese AI companies as the toughest challenge in establishing a speed limit on AI development.

He emphasized the need for international coordination to prevent a race that could be equally dangerous, stating that the ability to check the other side from cheating must be ironclad.