Trump downplays AI fears, calls on US to maintain edge over China

New warnings across the Silicon Valley have revived debates about whether advanced artificial intelligence could spiral out of control.

After dismissing industry concerns over rogue AI, US President Donald Trump claims his administration already puts "guardrails" to regulate its development.

He will potentially have AI companies meet at the White House soon about their responsibility to maintain safety.

Amid growing public alarm about the potential safety risks, the global AI cohort witnessed a widespread retracement on Monday.

This after a former Anthropic researcher said last week that he resigned in part because the "people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade." A number of industry leaders have jointly cautioned the misuse of the technology harming people and urged slowing down its pace.

Yet, Trump wrote on Monday that any fears to limit the technology are part of a "sick conspiracy" and that his presence in the Oval Office should assuage any fears.

The US president further claimed that AI taking over the world, destroying humanity and all other things is a "hoax," adding China would benefit from the doubt being cast on AI development.

US Vice President J.D. Vance also told reporters that America shouldn't be scared of AI. He said from Joint Base Andrews that the administration intends to make sure it's regulating the technology "smartly."

"I have to say, just personally, I feel a little bit weird about the fact that you have so many frontier AI tech companies kind of coming to the government and begging the government to regulate them. It feels a little to me like a bit of a Trojan horse," says Vance.

"I think that we have to be mindful that there are risks, there are downside to anything, and that's certainly true of AI."

This while House Speaker Mike Johnson highlighted the need for AI regulations and maintaining the US' "edge over China."

He says: "We do not want to jump in the reflex of legislative bodies is to cover things up with red tape and in hyper regulation. If you do that, then you lose your edge, and that is a national security concern to the American people."

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, however, condemned GOP lawmakers for bowing to Trump's laissez-faire approach and stressed the risk posed by AI is "not a hoax." "These are incredibly serious issues. They are raised by people all across the country and we need to act seriously. And I urge my Republican colleagues to stop burying their heads in the sand."

Separately, during Monday's All-In Summit in Los Angeles, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang noted "pausing" and "pacing" are all voluntary things that they could do if they feel that their company is out of control.

Huang held a phone call with Trump that lasted for about five minutes, in which the president said data centres make people and states wealthy.

Trump further said the United States is not going to let AI development playing into the hands of those that don't want to see it happen, and that could be political people and also China.

His comments drew agreement from Huang.