Trump Slams AI Critics, Calls Them 'Negative Forces' After Anthropic Researcher Triggers Debate

Donald Trump on Sunday hit out at critics of artificial intelligence (AI) who have warned firms needed to slow down the development of the powerful technology, branding them “negative” forces.

“I think you have a lot of negative” forces “that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up, and they’re bringing up things that won’t happen,” the US president told reporters during a visit to Ireland.

The comments came a few days after AI researcher Jacob Coxon decided to leave the industry, accusing his former employers OpenAI and Anthropic of “gambling with our lives” in the race to develop models capable of self-improvement.

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade,” Coxon wrote on X.

That

prompted Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Saturday to urge firms to slow down its rapid development, amid mounting worries over the risks of “superintelligent” computer systems.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who owns xAI, quickly chimed in to say they agreed with Amodei’s assessment, as pressure builds for improved oversight.

Altman also said in an interview released on Saturday that his company will not go public this year, citing safety concerns.