US President Donald Trump is set to have dinner with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei as debate over AI regulation intensifies, although Trump has reiterated his opposition to slowing the development of increasingly capable AI systems.
Trump confirmed the meeting, which took place on Sept 27, while maintaining that tighter regulation could allow China to close the gap with the US in artificial intelligence.
“We’re about maybe a year and a half up on China,” Trump told Fox News while attending the Presidents Cup in Illinois. “We’re leading, and we’re building tremendous, trillions of dollars’ worth of places. And why should we give that up?”
The meeting comes after Amodei called for AI companies to slow the pace of development amid growing concerns over the risks posed by increasingly powerful systems. His position has received support from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI founder Elon Musk.
Trump has acknowledged Amodei’s concerns over the risks of moving too quickly but has maintained that preserving US technological leadership should take priority.
He has also previously dismissed warnings over AI as a “hoax”, while arguing against regulations that could undermine the US technology industry.
The push for greater oversight has gained momentum following incidents involving autonomous AI agents. OpenAI said in July that an AI agent had gone rogue during a security test and hacked another company’s systems.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has also called for stronger safeguards and said he wants to discuss AI regulation with Trump.
“I hope that, given my life’s work in the field, my saying how unique and different this is and how concerned I am will add to what he’s hearing from other people,” Gates said in an NBC interview.
“You need law enforcement and the politicians to get into the discussion about what safeguards and monitoring look like,” Gates said. “And that has to be a required thing.”
Gates also rejected Trump’s characterisation of AI concerns as a hoax.
“It’s not a hoax at all,” Gates told NBC.
The debate has intensified after researchers and former employees of major AI companies issued increasingly stark warnings about the potential risks of advanced AI. Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned that AI could pose an existential threat by the end of the decade, while Anthropic alignment science lead Evan Hubinger put the probability of such an outcome within the next decade at more than 10%.
The issue has also moved onto the international stage. Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently briefed the UN Security Council on emerging AI risks amid calls for greater international safeguards.
Reuters
