Trump confirms meeting with Anthropic's Amodei, repeats dismissal of AI fears

President Donald Trump announced plans for a dinner meeting with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Sunday night, while maintaining his opposition to slowing down artificial intelligence development. Trump reiterated his belief that new regulations would allow China to surpass the US in AI advancements. He emphasized the importance of maintaining the US's technological lead, stating, "We're about maybe a year and a half up on China.

We're leading, and we're building tremendous, trillions of dollars worth of places. And why should we give that up?"

The meeting comes as CEOs of rival AI companies, such as OpenAI, Google’s DeepMind, Microsoft, and xAI, have called for slower AI development. However, Trump dismissed concerns about rogue AI agents, saying, "I don't worry about it." He expressed confidence in the technology and its potential. Amodei is one of several prominent figures attempting to influence Trump's stance on AI regulation.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates also expressed interest in meeting with Trump to discuss AI, urging the need for law enforcement and politicians to engage in conversations about safeguards and monitoring.

Trump has previously dismissed AI concerns as a "hoax," but recent warnings from researchers in leading AI labs have raised the urgency of the issue. Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned that AI could potentially kill all life by the end of the decade, while Anthropic's alignment science lead Evan Hubinger stated there was a more than 10 percent chance of such an event within the next decade.