Trump prioritizes US-China AI race over industry safety warnings

Donald Trump has dismissed calls for restraints on artificial intelligence development, arguing that maintaining America's technological lead over China outweighs safety concerns raised by industry leaders.

The US president made the remarks after Dario Amodei, chief executive of AI company Anthropic, advocated for slowing the industry's rapid progress to allow safety measures to catch up. Elon Musk and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, publicly endorsed Amodei's position.

Competition With China Takes Priority

Speaking to reporters during a weekend trip to Ireland, Trump framed artificial intelligence as a winner-takes-all contest between Washington and Beijing. "The United States is leading China in the development of AI and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins," he said after watching a golfer tee off at the Irish Open at his resort in Doonbeg.

The Republican president suggested that winning the AI race would itself address risks associated with the technology, though he did not explain how.

Vague Stance on Regulation

Trump acknowledged some need for regulation but offered no details about what rules his administration might pursue. He attributed warnings about AI advancing too quickly with insufficient oversight to unidentified "negative forces," despite such concerns coming from technology pioneers themselves.

"We can put guard rails, we can do this and that, but I think you have a lot of 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 told reporters in Ireland.

He repeated his refrain that "whoever wins with AI wins".

Upcoming Xi Meeting

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit the United States later in September to meet Trump, with artificial intelligence likely among the topics the two leaders will discuss.

The president's comments signal resistance to international coordination on AI safety standards at a moment when leading developers of the technology are publicly calling for a more cautious approach.

Source: South China Morning Post