The debate over the safety of artificial intelligence, sparked by dire warnings about the fate of humanity, has united long-time adversaries and rival political opponents in Washington and Silicon Valley.
Two different factions emerged.
On the one hand, President Donald Trump Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and former White House Cryptocurrency Czar David Sachs. The other brings together Dario Amodei, the leader of the conflicting Frontier Labs. human, OpenAISam Altman and Elon Musk, and a chorus of AI researchers.
AI concerns
This wave of discourse was initially sparked by Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who announced last week that he was quitting his job over concerns that OpenAI and Anthropic were “putting our lives on the line.” As the debate raged over Coxon’s post, one Humane Integrity leader responded that there was a more than 10% chance that AI would “kill all humans.”
Enthusiasm grew over the weekend, with Amodei calling on AI Frontier to slow down model development.
Mr. Altman soon joined forces with Mr. Amodei, an unusual pairing between rival AI institutes. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk agreed with X, saying, “Dario is right,” later adding, “We’ve been sounding the alarm on AI for a long time.”
The debate quickly made its way to Washington, where tensions escalated over how to curb growing AI risks without stifling innovation.
Calls to slow down AI are uniting unlikely political opponents in support of regulation. Progressive leaders Sen. Bernie Sanders (R-Vt.), Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and former White House strategist Steve Bannon gathered at a nonprofit event in Washington on Tuesday to show support for anti-AI efforts.
President Trump leads opposition to ‘misinformation’
President Trump has strongly opposed efforts to regulate AI and warnings about its extinction.
In multiple posts on Truth Social this week, President Trump slammed the backlash against public data centers, calling concerns about AI running wild “misinformation” and “fraud.” he called on monday Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s interview at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles delivered a message directly to the technology-focused audience.
In a video posted on social media by an attendee, President Trump said those opposed to the data center would be “playing into the hands of a lot of people who don’t want it built,” and that could be China.
“That’s right,” Huang replied. “I won’t allow that, sir.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday that Mr. Trump is “completely aligned” with Mr. Hwang.
Later that day, Hwang backed Trump’s position again on Salesforce Dreamforce, saying, “We don’t need new laws. We don’t need new regulations.”
“We just need companies to decide that when push comes to shove, they’re going to go as fast as they can,” he said.
Others in the administration have also taken a more aggressive tone in their comments.
Sachs, who currently co-chairs the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, encouraged tech giants to “get ahead of the curve” but said, “Let’s not act as if our motivation to slow down is purely altruistic.”
This attack, which is perceived as “effective altruism”, is echoed by Emil Michael, Undersecretary for Research, Engineering and Warfare.
“I think the fear-mongering we’re seeing right now is a coordinated campaign by a group of people and ideologies and nonprofits behind them to try to scare the American people,” Michael told Fox News on Monday.
Part of the administration’s message is that limiting regulation is key to winning the AI race with China. “Whoever wins against AI wins,” President Trump said on Sunday, suggesting the China threat was a top priority.
House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested at a press conference Tuesday that President Trump plans to unite the White House AI leaders “within the next week.”
He also dismissed any apocalyptic concerns about AI.
“What the president is saying is that we’re not all going to be dead in 10 years,” he said. “That’s a hoax.”
