Trump calls AI safety fears a “hoax” and rejects stronger safeguards

US President Donald Trump has dismissed fears about artificial intelligence safety as a “hoax” and criticised calls for stronger guardrails around the fast-moving technology.

His comments followed remarks by Jack Clark, a co-founder of Anthropic, who told the BBC that the industry may eventually need mandatory “kill switches” for dangerous AI. Clark said most laboratories, including Anthropic, have ways to shut down their systems, but lawmakers may need to require such measures.

Warnings about AI’s potential risks to humanity have recently come from executives and staff at major AI companies. Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger said he considered the possibility of AI causing human extinction to be more than 10%. Chief executive Dario Amodei called for slower development and closer monitoring, while saying safeguards should not sacrifice commercial advantage.

Trump compared AI warnings with what he called the “Global Warming Scam” and the “RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX” in social media posts. He also said China would benefit if the US slowed development or tightened regulation.

Microsoft AI has published guidance on what it calls “humanist AI”. Mustafa Suleyman said the company had worked on the document for months. Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of xAI have also backed industry-wide deceleration, regulation and independent monitoring.