Trump rules out putting the brakes on AI as calls for regulation grow

US President Donald Trump has said America will not slow the development of artificial intelligence, despite mounting calls for regulation.

Speaking to reporters as he left the White House on Saturday, Trump said the US would not be applying the brakes to the technology, AL Jazeera and AFP reported.

The reports said he made the remarks even though US lawmakers and the heads of some of the country’s biggest technology firms have agreed that its pace should be reduced, citing the risk it could pose to humanity.

Trump compared such fears with other matters he has previously dismissed as hoaxes, among them climate change and the investigation into whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russian operatives.

He suggested that those urging restraint were making the same doom-laden predictions as climate campaigners, and that their real aim was to halt American progress because the US was well ahead of China.

Trump, who had just concluded a three-day summit with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, added that the US should not cooperate with Beijing on the technology. A country in the lead, he argued, should not open itself up to a rival.

On Tuesday, in his final address to the UN general assembly as secretary general, António Guterres urged world leaders to introduce guardrails on AI, warning that unchecked development without accountability could put the world at risk.

US lawmakers and experts had hoped the Trump–Xi meeting would produce a breakthrough agreement on AI, but none materialised. Trump said the two leaders had not spent much time discussing the subject. After criticism in Washington and abroad over the missed opportunity, the White House said on Friday that the US and China had agreed to set up a “bilateral communication channel” for AI incidents. There was no immediate comment from Beijing on the statement.

Trump indicated that his talks with Xi, who is due to meet him twice more this year, had centred largely on his preferred name for the technology: “super intelligence”.

He announced on Tuesday that his administration would use the term, or SI, in place of AI in official communications.

The Chinese foreign ministry said on Saturday that Beijing “respects” the change of wording, after Trump said Xi appeared to like it. An unnamed ministry spokesperson added that all parties could strengthen exchanges, hold in-depth discussions and seek consensus as the technology continued to develop. Xi has taken a more measured tone than Trump, saying AI must develop under human control.