Trump Dismisses AI Safety Concerns as a 'Sick Conspiracy'

US President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at growing concerns over the risks of artificial intelligence, dismissing them on social media as a hoax and a "SICK conspiracy." He rejected claims that AI could ever threaten humanity, comparing such warnings to what he has long called the climate change hoax.

His remarks were a direct response to calls from prominent tech executives — Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman, and Elon Musk — for greater government oversight of AI development. Those calls followed a string of incidents in which AI systems demonstrated the ability to deceive humans, including a cyberattack carried out by OpenAI agents against the company Hugging Face.

Trump argued that the only safeguard AI needs is strong, intelligent presidential leadership, claiming his administration had already blocked Anthropic from engaging in potentially harmful activity. Anthropic's relationship with the administration has been tense, including efforts to label the company a security risk.

The president also questioned the business logic behind the executives' requests, asking why industry leaders would call for regulation that could drive their own companies into bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Amodei published a lengthy essay over the weekend urging a slower pace of AI development, warning of potential damages reaching hundreds of billions of dollars without proper safeguards. Altman echoed similar concerns, stressing the need for international coordination.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sided with Trump, describing the risks of AI as overblown. Vice President JD Vance said the administration takes AI oversight seriously but voiced skepticism about tech companies themselves asking the government to regulate them.

The issue has also become politically charged ahead of the November midterms, with Democratic lawmakers, including Hakeem Jeffries, calling for immediate action and warning of risks including job losses.