Donald Trump on Monday called the hypothesis that artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity a “hoax”, as concerns continue to grow around the world around the risks posed by the rapid rise of this technology.
Many voices have been raised in recent days, including those of leaders in the sector, to call for regulating the development of AI.
“I am the demolisher of hoaxes,” said the American president in one of six posts published Monday on the subject on his Truth Social platform. “I’m busting another hoax: the one that AI is going to take over, devour and destroy the world, and that robots are going to invade our cities to wipe us all out!”
Donald Trump has compared fears of AI takeover to warnings about climate change, which he rejects despite scientific evidence, as well as investigations during his first term into his ties to Russia.
“It’s even crazier than the +RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA+ HOAX or the global warming scam,” he asserted.
The 80-year-old president presented himself as the best protection against AI, saying the only safeguard needed is a “STRONG, INTELLIGENT PRESIDENT (high IQ!)”
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, whose company is developing the Claude model, opened the debate on Saturday by calling on companies in the sector to slow down their development to better understand the risks arising from new AI capabilities.
Freeing “the beast”
He received support from Sam Altman, OpenAI, and Elon Musk.
Microsoft published a “humanist code of conduct for AI” on Monday. “AI must not escape human control. Models must remain subordinate to humanity,” we read.
Several incidents have recently raised fears that designers of AI agents are losing control of their creation.
And Donald Trump is facing an outcry from American voters who oppose data centers dedicated to AI, which are very energy-intensive, which have become a major issue in the mid-term elections scheduled for early November.
“The reality is that AI is here. We freed the beast,” Maliyka Muhammad, a 46-year-old New Yorker, told AFP. “Now we need to focus on what we can do to control it, so it doesn’t go crazy.”
But the US president said the United States cannot afford to lose the artificial intelligence race to rival superpower China. President Xi Jinping will visit the White House next week.
China’s concerns
The Republican billionaire also denounced “an unhealthy conspiracy” against AI and data centers, accusing opponents of being “traitors”.
He attacked Dario Amodei in a particularly virulent manner, accusing him of “pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel'”, before questioning the reasons which push certain tech giants to demand more regulation, at the risk, according to him, of leading the sector “to disappearance and bankruptcy”.
He also called on Google to reverse a $15 billion investment plan in AI in Finland.
China is also concerned about the potential impact of artificial intelligence.
Chinese intelligence chief Chen Yixin warned on Sunday that AI posed a threat to his country’s national security, saying foreign powers could use the technology to destabilize it.
He pointed out in an article published online that AI now constitutes “the main battlefield of global technological competition and a new avenue for strategic rivalry between great powers”.
In this context, the UN Security Council will hold a meeting next week dedicated to AI, according to a French diplomatic source.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged Monday for “urgent action” to regulate AI, in the face of the “unprecedented risks” posed by the most advanced systems.
In the United Kingdom, King Charles III has convened a summit which will soon bring together representatives of large artificial intelligence companies, including Google DeepMind and OpenAI, in Scotland.
