Trump dismisses AI safety fears as a ‘hoax’

US President Donald Trump has dismissed growing concerns about the safety of artificial intelligence (AI), describing calls for tighter safeguards as a “hoax”.

His comments followed warnings from Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark that governments may eventually need to require AI developers to have independently verifiable “kill switches” capable of shutting down dangerous systems.

Clark said most major AI laboratories already had mechanisms to disable their systems, but suggested legislation might be needed to make such safeguards mandatory, business reporter Peter Hoskins writes for the BBC.

Concerns about the potential risks of AI have intensified after Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger said he believed there was a more than 10% chance that AI could cause human extinction within the next decade. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has also called for the pace of AI development to be slowed and subjected to closer monitoring.

Microsoft AI has meanwhile published guidance on what it calls “humanist AI”, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI chief Elon Musk have indicated support for greater regulation and independent monitoring.

Trump, however, argued that the only “guardrails” needed were a “strong and smart” president, while warning that slowing US AI development could benefit China.