US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticized prominent AI figures for raising alarms about existential risks, calling such warnings alarmist and unhelpful. He urged the industry to prioritize self-regulation and develop concrete solutions rather than focusing on hypothetical dangers.
In September, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI head Sam Altman, and xAI founder Elon Musk advocated for slowing down the development of advanced models. Bill Gates also warned that AI could potentially cause one billion deaths, suggesting the need for government oversight.
President Donald Trump dismissed these concerns as a hoax, emphasizing that the US must maintain its lead in AI development. During a meeting with tech executives, including Satya Nadella, Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Karp, and Greg Brockman, Trump rejected the idea of new federal regulations.
Trump instead advocated for a self-regulatory approach supported by existing agencies like the Department of Justice and the FBI. He reached a non-binding agreement with Silicon Valley leaders to utilize external organizations for evaluating the safety of AI systems.
Bessent reiterated that while labs must take responsibility, the focus should remain on safe acceleration. He challenged executives calling for regulation to simply slow down their development processes if they truly believe the risks are as significant as they claim.
