TLDR
- President Trump said he has “no concerns” about AI causing human extinction, focusing instead on beating China in the AI race
- Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quit Tuesday, saying labs are “gambling with our lives”
- OpenAI alignment researcher Jasmine Wang warned it is “hard to overstate how dangerous speeding towards RSI is”
- OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki said he fears “no one is prepared” for rapid machine intelligence growth
- Two new bills in Congress aim to increase AI oversight, including one that would temporarily pause advanced AI development
President Trump says he has no worries about artificial intelligence wiping out humanity. His comments came just as a growing number of insiders at two of the world’s top AI labs went public with serious safety concerns.
When asked Thursday whether AI could lead to human extinction, Trump replied simply: “No, I don’t have any.”
The president said his main concern is winning the AI race against China. “I have concerns that if we don’t win AI, we’re going to be put in a very bad position,” he told reporters. He added that he believes the U.S. is currently ahead of China by about a year.
Researchers Walk Out and Speak Out
On Tuesday, Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon announced he was leaving the company. He said Anthropic and OpenAI are “gambling with our lives” and claimed that people building AI believe it could “kill us all by the end of the decade.”
Other employees at both labs have echoed that view.
A core fear among safety researchers is something called recursive self-improvement, or RSI. That is when an AI model gains the ability to improve its own performance without human help.
Jasmine Wang, an alignment researcher at OpenAI, posted Wednesday evening: “It’s hard to overstate how dangerous speeding towards RSI is.”
OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki added to the concern on Saturday. He said he has a “strong expectation” that AI progress could continue into recursive self-improvement territory.
“I am concerned no one is prepared for the consequences of a continued rapid rise in machine intelligence,” Pachocki said.
Congress Moves to Act
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers from both parties are pushing for more oversight of advanced AI systems.
In July, Rep. Jay Obernolte and Rep. Lori Trahan announced plans to introduce the FRONTIER Act. The bill aims to set rules for how advanced AI models are deployed.
Trahan wrote on X Wednesday: “Safety researchers are resigning, powerful AI models are breaking out of their labs, and companies are racing ahead anyway. It’s past time for Congress to get off the sidelines and do its job.”
Earlier this month, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act. It would pause advanced AI development until the federal government puts safety rules in place.
Trump has not signaled support for either bill. His focus remains on keeping the U.S. ahead of China in the global AI competition.
The gap between the White House and AI safety researchers appears to be growing wider.
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