Trump Defends AI Expansion, Asserting Benefits Will Far Outweigh the Risks

President Donald Trump reaffirmed his commitment to advancing artificial intelligence on Sunday, disregarding potential hazards.

This stance follows just days after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei advocated for a comprehensive pause in AI development to prioritize safety. Trump appeared to counter this sentiment directly.

“I’m not downplaying the risks, but the technology is going to be more good than bad, and by a significant margin,” Trump told reporters while discussing AI development.

President Donald Trump attends the Amgen Irish Open at Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg, Ireland, Sept. 13, 2026. (REUTERS/Kylie Cooper / Reuters Photos)

When pressed by a reporter about whether he had directly consulted with AI tech leaders, Trump questioned the necessity of doing so.

“I said it from the very beginning. Whoever wins AI, and we are leading by a lot. Whoever wins AI wins,” Trump stated, before declining to reveal whether he personally uses AI.

Amodei’s essay published Saturday also argued that a “Chinese lead in AI would pose grave danger for the United States and the world.” He urged the Trump administration to impose stricter limitations on AI chip exports to Beijing’s development facilities.

A smartphone displaying the Anthropic logo is shown in the foreground with a blurred Claude Mythos themed background on July 11, 2026.  (Imen Ben Youssef / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

China’s foreign ministry dismissed Amodei’s statement as “fearmongering.”

“Fearmongering, confrontation, and vicious competition will only disrupt the process of global AI governance, which serves no one’s interest,” ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated at a Monday news conference.

Concerns over AI development resurfaced last week after a developer from Anthropic resigned and publicly claimed the company was “gambling with our lives” through its research.

Jacob Coxon, 27, who stated he spent the past three years conducting pretraining research at OpenAI and Anthropic, noted that the situation is not entirely hopeless.

CEO of Anthropic Dario Amodei attends a working lunch with G7 leaders, G7 outreach partners, and global tech CEOs on innovation and AI, during the G7 Summit on June 17, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Evan Hubinger, alignment science lead at Anthropic, expressed his agreement with Coxon’s X post.

“Jacob is correct here — we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!” Hubinger wrote on X. “I personally think it is >10% within the next decade. I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to.”

“To be clear, as we say in our latest Risk Report, I think the risk from present models is low,” Hubinger added. “What I am worried about is superintelligence arising from recursive self-improvement, as we have said is happening faster than we thought.”

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