'AI could kill all humans' warning: US, China dismiss threat, Trump calls it 'hoax'
Meanwhile, Trump is facing a rare backlash from the US Congress as Democrats and several Republicans are increasingly concerned about risks ranging from autonomous AI systems and cybersecurity threats to potentially catastrophic consequences
After an Anthropic researcher warned that there is more than 10 per cent chance that “AI could kill all humans within the next decade”, US and Chinese leaders have come in rare agreement to dismiss the threat with American President Donald Trump terming it a “hoax”.
AI company Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger, in a social media post, had said, “we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is more than 10 per cent within the next decade”.
He later clarified, “I think the risk from present models is low. What I am worried about is superintelligence arising from recursive self-improvement.”
What Trump said
Dario Amodei, the head of Anthropic, later called for a “slowdown” on artificial intelligence (AI) development and owners of rival AI firms – Sam Altman of OpenAI and Grok’s Elon Musk said they agreed with him.
Also read: Anthropic CEO warns AI could ‘take over internet’ without slowdown
Last week, Jacob Coxon quit his researcher job at Anthropic, the company behind the AI chatbot Claude. In his resignation post, he said the people actually building the superintelligent technology privately believe it could kill everyone by the end of this decade.
Hitting out at the warnings, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Concerning AI, when, in the History of Business, did anyone see the Leaders of an Industry call for Regulation that, if strongly implemented, will drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy? AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX (sic).”
'Sick conspiracy'
In another post, Trump termed it “sick conspiracy”, the calls for slowing down superintelligent AI development.
"There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS (sic)," Trump wrote in his post.
China's foreign ministry hit back at Amodei's call. "Fearmongering, confrontation and vicious competition will only disrupt the process of global AI governance which serves no one's interest," spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a press conference on Monday (September 14).
Trump also told Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang that “it’s all a hoax”. When Huang was speaking on stage at the All-in Summit in Los Angeles, Trump called and he was put on speaker. “I’m telling you, it’s all a hoax. The data centres are great, and they make people wealthy, and they make states wealthy.”
Trump faces backlash
Meanwhile, Trump is facing a rare backlash from the US Congress as Democrats and several Republicans are increasingly concerned about risks ranging from autonomous AI systems and cybersecurity threats to potentially catastrophic consequences.
Supporters of guardrails argue that the government needs powers to test advanced AI systems, impose safety requirements and potentially restrict especially dangerous capabilities.