US President Dismisses AI Safety Fears as Hoax Amid Calls for Regulation

US President Donald Trump has dismissed concerns regarding the safety of artificial intelligence (AI) as a “hoax”, criticising demands for increased regulatory guardrails on the rapidly advancing technology.

This follows remarks by Jack Clark, co-founder of AI company Anthropic, who told the BBC that a third-party-verifiable “kill switch” may need to be made mandatory across the industry.

Clark’s comments came after warnings about the risks the technology poses to humanity were raised in recent days by several executives and employees at leading artificial intelligence firms.

These concerns triggered a selloff in technology stocks as investors weighed the potential impact of a slowdown in the multi-billion-dollar AI development sector.

In a series of social media posts, the US president compared warnings about AI to what he termed the “Global Warming Scam”, alleging it was “being perpetrated by the Radical Left Dumocrats”.

Trump also dubbed himself “the Hoax Buster”, drawing parallels between safety concerns about the technology and what he termed “the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX”.

The only “guardrails” required for AI, according to Trump, was a “strong and smart” president.

In another post, he wrote: “There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”

Chinese state media reported that experts warned “Washington’s growing anxiety over China’s rapid AI development appears to be increasingly distorting its policy priorities”.

“They know that China has become a strong competitor in AI, and worry that if the US slows down development or tightens regulation, China could catch up even faster,” said Xin Qiang, a professor of American Studies at Fudan University, in an interview with the Global Times.

Clark, one of Anthropic’s seven founders, stated earlier on Monday that a method for completely shutting down AI software if it becomes too dangerous was something society “might want to eventually pass rules around”.

He added that “most labs have different ways of being able to pull the plug”, including Anthropic, but noted that lawmakers may need to enforce having one.

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