① The debate over AI safety and regulation has coalesced into two camps: the "radical development" faction, led by Trump, which opposes regulatory guardrails for AI and questions narratives regarding related risks; and the "slow-down" faction, represented by figures such as the CEO of Anthropic, which calls for decelerating the pace of frontier AI development. ② House Speaker Mike Johnson stated on Tuesday that Trump plans to convene leaders in the AI sector at the White House next week.
Cailianshe, September 16 (Editor: Huang Junzhi) – The debate on artificial intelligence (AI) safety and regulation, sparked by stark warnings about humanity's fate, has formed two major camps in Washington and Silicon Valley: the "radical development" faction led by U.S. President Trump, and the "slow-down" faction led by the "Big Three" of AI.
AI Safety Ignites Public Outcry
This public outcry was initially triggered by Jacob Coxon, a researcher at Anthropic. He announced his resignation last week, accusing the company and its main competitor, OpenAI, of irresponsible behavior. Coxon, who previously served as a researcher at both firms, posted on X that he resigned due to concerns that Anthropic and OpenAI were "gambling with our lives."
He stated that those developing artificial intelligence "genuinely believe that by the end of this decade (2030), AI could destroy us all." Evan Hubinger, Head of Alignment Science at Anthropic, later responded directly, stating that the probability of AI "destroying all of humanity" exceeds 10%.
These remarks directly ignited concerns about AI safety, which further escalated over the weekend. On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a lengthy blog post calling for the industry to slow down, emphasizing that this effort requires coordination across the industry and globally.
Shortly after Amodei's article was published, Elon Musk posted, "Dario is right," adding that he had "long been warning about artificial intelligence." Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, also responded quickly, expressing agreement with Amodei's view that "we need to slow down the pace of frontier AI development."
The discussion quickly reached Washington, intensifying debates on "how to control growing AI risks without stifling technological innovation."
Calls to slow AI development have prompted political opponents to unite in support of AI regulation. Progressive leader and Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, Texas Republican Representative Chip Roy, and former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon jointly attended a nonprofit event in Washington on Tuesday to advocate for action on artificial intelligence.
Trump Leads the "Opposition"
To date, the Trump administration appears to have little interest in employing regulatory measures to establish additional guardrails for AI development. As reflected in Trump’s recent statements, he has strongly rebuffed calls for artificial intelligence regulation and warnings of existential threats, asserting that the primary objective is to maintain AI leadership.
House Speaker Mike Johnson stated at a press conference on Tuesday that Trump plans to convene leaders from the artificial intelligence sector at the White House next week. He also dismissed concerns that AI could bring about an apocalypse.
"The President means that you are not all going to die in ten years," he said. "That is a scam."
This week, Trump posted multiple times on his social media platform, Truth Social, describing concerns about runaway artificial intelligence as a "scam" and sharply criticizing resistance to public data centers. On Monday, he publicly called NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who was speaking at the "All-In Summit" in Los Angeles.
During the call, Trump made no secret of his strong opposition to the current global wave of AI safety regulation, bluntly stating that widely discussed AI risks are nonsensical. He said, "It is a scam. Robots will not take over the world, and artificial intelligence will not dominate the globe. This will never happen."
He further asserted that all voices advocating that AI poses fatal risks and calling for government regulatory intervention are promoting "absurd conspiracy theories," and that so-called AI doomsday risks are entirely false claims.
Meanwhile, Trump once again publicly endorsed the controversial data center industry, stating: "Data centers are the oil of the next 20 to 25 years, with value far exceeding that of the internet, and they are much more important."
Jensen Huang directly aligned himself with this view, stating, "You are right. We will not let that happen." Later that day, at the Salesforce Dreamforce conference, Huang reiterated his support for Trump’s position, saying, "We do not need any new laws or new regulations."
"We only need companies to make up their minds to go all out when opportunities arise," he said.
Comments from some other government officials were phrased more strongly.
David Sacks, the former White House cryptocurrency czar who currently serves as co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, has encouraged tech giants to “continue leading the frontier,” but warned them not to “pretend that the motivation for slowing down is purely altruistic.”
Emil Michael, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, also criticized this so-called “altruism.” In an interview, he stated, “I believe the panic we are seeing now is part of an organized campaign launched by certain individuals, ideologies, and the non-profit organizations behind them, with the aim of intimidating the American public.”