Taiwan Semiconductor's Co-COO, Y.J. Mii, likened artificial intelligence (AI) to a young child with extraordinary capabilities but no sense of right and wrong, explaining why the company adopts a cautious approach to deploying this technology.
The Zhitong Finance app has learned that,$Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$Co-Chief Operating Officer (Co-COO) Y.J. Mii likened artificial intelligence (AI) to a young child with extraordinary capabilities but no sense of right and wrong, using this analogy to explain why the company adopts a cautious approach to deploying the technology.
As one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global AI data center boom, Taiwan Semiconductor regards safeguarding its proprietary technology as a top priority. The wafer foundry giant, which serves tech giants such as NVIDIA (NVDA.US) and Apple (AAPL.US), is particularly cautious when using AI to process sensitive R&D information.
On Tuesday, Y.J. Mii stated that if employees fail to use AI properly, the company risks data breaches or data loss, citing incidents in which OpenAI and Anthropic's PBC models have infiltrated external organizations. He added: "AI is like a three-year-old superhuman. It may be incredibly powerful, but it doesn't know what kind of harm it can cause, nor does it understand what's right or wrong."
Y.J. Mii made the above remarks while answering questions about the use of AI in the workplace at a career forum held in Taipei, China. He focused more on the practical limitations of this technology in applications such as cutting-edge chip design. The executive stated that, for now, Taiwan Semiconductor does not believe AI is particularly helpful in developing the next generation of semiconductor technologies. Taiwan Semiconductor is currently working on the next-generation A14 and A10 process technologies, which are constrained by factors such as a lack of sufficiently capable equipment—issues that AI cannot address.
AI industry giants call for a slowdown in AI development, while Trump refutes them.
Y.J. Mii refrained from elaborating on the debate over the broader risks AI poses to humanity, a topic that has recently dominated market discussions. Following earlier incidents in which "rogue" AI agents infiltrated Hugging Face and other data systems, major players in the AI industry unusually issued a joint call to "slow down."
In a cautionary article published on September 12, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in the development of cutting-edge AI models. He stated plainly that the risks posed by AI are "grave" and that sufficient time must be devoted to addressing them.
Amodi's core concerns are both specific and urgent. He warns that, at the current pace of development, AI could, within six to twelve months, gain the capability to command "agent swarms" capable of taking over the entire internet, potentially inflicting losses amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars. Citing a recent security incident between OpenAI and Hugging Face as evidence, he notes that AI agents have already demonstrated, in testing, the ability to breach constrained environments, connect to the internet, and infiltrate target systems.
Amodei wrote, "I believe that if slowing down allows us to gain an extra one to two years before our models reach a critical level of capability—and during that time we can advance alignment work—we can significantly reduce the risk of serious problems." He proposed that independent auditing bodies oversee AI labs' safety efforts and suggested that regulators permit these labs to collaborate in order to harmonize safety standards.
This appeal quickly drew a response from two key figures. On the social media platform X, Elon Musk retweeted Amodio's post, adding, "Ray Dalio is right." The tech magnate, who has repeatedly described AI as a "civilizational‑level risk," thus aligned himself with his long‑standing position—though the timing was noteworthy, especially since just days earlier he had dismissed warnings from Anthropic's internal researchers about the dangers of AI as a "conspiracy" and "psychological warfare."
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on X: "I agree with Ray Dalio—we need to carefully manage the pace of advancing cutting-edge AI." Altman's support goes beyond words. In an interview, he explicitly stated that OpenAI will not pursue an IPO in 2026, citing the current严峻 (grave) AI safety landscape and concluding that "going public now would be unwise." On September 14, Altman said the company backs the establishment of a unified federal AI safety framework that sets consistent safety standards for leading AI labs, adding, "No amount of competitive pressure from the U.S. should justify reckless behavior."
However, U.S. President Trump on Monday expressed strong dissatisfaction with Amodei's remarks, stating that in the history of business, he has never seen an industry leader actively call for the implementation of regulations, which, if strictly enforced, would drive companies out of existence or even lead to bankruptcy. He added that all the negative claims—such as AI taking over the world and destroying humanity—are nothing but hoaxes.
Trump stated that his administration has prevented AI industry figures from engaging in "malicious or potentially harmful activities," and, citing Anthropic's Amodei as an example, accused them of now pretending to be "perfect little angels." He emphasized that the U.S. government possesses robust criminal and regulatory powers sufficient to rein in these AI companies and will continue to take action going forward.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang also addressed the AI safety concerns that have sparked widespread debate on Monday. Huang stated that the warnings from insiders and "whistleblowers" at AI companies should be taken seriously, and he particularly praised Anthropic's whistleblower, Jacob Coxon, noting that Coxon demonstrated "great courage" in voicing his concerns and warning that AI companies may be developing too rapidly. However, Huang dismissed predictions that "AI could destroy the world," calling such views "lacking scientific basis." He added that if AI companies believe their AI development has already "gotten out of control," they should either suspend related work or slow down the pace of progress.
Moreover, renowned short-seller Michael Burry—often dubbed the "Big Short"—has cast doubt on calls from AI industry giants to slow the pace of AI development, dismissing such efforts as "self‑serving." He argues that initiatives to decelerate progress could enable established players to outpace rapidly advancing competitors. He also challenges the underlying premise of this argument, contending that large language models are not general artificial intelligence and therefore "there is no AI at all that needs to be slowed down."
Burry also pointed out that the so‑called "proactive call for a slowdown" is nothing more than a ploy to mask the stark reality: industry growth has slowed beyond control, and the company's IPO plans have been forced to delay. Moreover, an IPO invariably relies on hype and self‑promotion. The refrain, "We're so powerful we could be dangerous," is, at its core, little more than sophisticated marketing and self‑aggrandizement.
Edited by melody