US President Donald Trump has rejected calls for a slowdown in the development of artificial intelligence, saying maintaining America’s lead over China remains his priority.
Trump made the remarks on Sunday in Ireland while speaking to reporters before his departure, amid growing concerns from technology experts and political leaders about the potential risks associated with rapid advances in AI.
Although he acknowledged that there were “negative forces” highlighting the dangers posed by the technology, Trump said his primary concern was ensuring that the United States remained ahead of China in the AI race.
“We’re leading China in AI,” he told reporters. “We’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins.”
His comments came amid increasing calls from prominent figures in the technology sector for stronger safeguards and greater coordination over the development of advanced AI systems.
Dario Amodei, chief executive of Anthropic, recently warned about the pace of AI development and proposed a three-step framework aimed at ensuring that progress in the sector is matched with adequate safety measures.
The proposal, described as a plan to “pace the frontier,” includes the use of “Embedded Evaluators”, under which AI companies would provide third-party evaluators such as METR with access to assess whether safety practices are being followed, report incidents and evaluate completed AI models, training systems and development processes.
Amodei also proposed “Democratic Coordination”, which would involve AI companies in different countries working together to establish common safety standards and prevent unchecked development, as well as “Global Coordination”, under which the United States and other governments would cooperate on compliance verification.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have publicly backed the framework, prompting further debate over the potential consequences of uncontrolled AI development.
The issue has also attracted attention from US lawmakers, with Senator Bernie Sanders calling on Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to consider negotiating an international treaty on AI regulation when the two leaders meet.
“We need a pause on advanced AI development and a ban on artificial superintelligence…before it is too late,” Sanders wrote on X.
Trump’s position, however, indicates that his administration remains focused on maintaining US technological dominance as competition with China intensifies, particularly in the development of increasingly advanced AI systems.
