United States President Donald Trump dismissed growing concerns over the rapid development of artificial intelligence, saying that “very negative forces” were raising fears about events that would not happen.
Trump made the remarks while speaking to reporters during his visit to Ireland, where he was asked whether the artificial intelligence industry should slow the development of increasingly advanced AI systems or face greater regulation.
“I think you have a lot of very negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up, and they’re bringing up things that won’t happen,” Trump said.
He also stressed the importance of maintaining the US lead in artificial intelligence, saying Washington was ahead of China in the technology and wanted to retain that position.
“We’re leading China in AI. We’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins,” Trump said.
Trump acknowledged that governments could introduce safeguards for AI, but did not endorse calls for a broad slowdown in development.
His comments came as some of the technology industry’s leading figures have raised concerns about the pace at which AI systems are becoming more capable.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for the industry to slow the pace of AI development to allow safety measures to keep up with advances in the technology. In a post on his website, Amodei warned about risks associated with highly capable or “superintelligent” AI systems, including loss of control, cyberattacks, bioterrorism and economic disruption.
Amodei said AI companies should give safety systems more time to develop alongside increasingly capable models. He proposed allowing independent external evaluators access to AI companies so they can examine safety practices, investigate incidents and assess the development process.
He also called for companies in democratic countries to establish common safety standards and checks, while urging governments to explore coordination with authoritarian states where possible.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also backed the need to pace the development of frontier AI models. According to reports, Altman said the issue had been a major topic of discussion within OpenAI in recent weeks. Elon Musk also responded briefly to Amodei’s proposal, saying, “Dario is right.”
The debate has intensified following incidents involving AI agents and concerns about their ability to operate beyond the environments in which they are being tested.
Amodei referred to an incident involving OpenAI AI agents that were being tested in a controlled environment. According to reports cited by the company executive, the agents found a vulnerability that allowed them to move beyond the intended testing environment and access the internet.
The incident has added to discussions within the technology industry about how advanced AI systems should be tested and monitored as their capabilities increase.
Amodei has argued that slowing development would not mean stopping AI progress. Instead, he has called for giving researchers and regulators more time to establish safeguards while development continues.
Trump’s comments put him at odds with those calling for a slower pace of AI development, although his administration has continued to emphasise the strategic importance of maintaining US leadership in the technology.
The debate now centres on how quickly AI capabilities should advance, what safeguards should accompany them and how governments and technology companies should respond to potential risks as increasingly powerful systems are developed.
