‘We’re leading China’: Trump downplays AI fears as industry calls to backtrack, says 'whoever wins AI wins'

US President Donald Trump said there were several “very negative forces” raising concerns about artificial intelligence that he believes are unlikely to materialise, while stressing that Washington must retain its position as the global leader in AI.

Trump said the US currently has an advantage over China and noted that maintaining that lead was crucial. He was responding to questions from reporters about whether the AI sector should face tighter regulations or slow its development.

This comes after leaders of some of the world’s biggest artificial intelligence companies urging the industry to reconsider the speed at which its most advanced and profitable models are being developed, citing growing concerns about potential risks associated with the technology.

"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 told reporters, according to Reuters.

Trump acknowledged that regulatory safeguards could be introduced but said he believed some of the warnings surrounding AI were overstated.

"We could put guardrails. We can do this and that. But 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."

AI leaders call for slower development

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a detailed blog post on Saturday outlining additional safety measures, including the use of third-party evaluators. He also called on other AI companies to back a broader effort to slow the pace of development.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly backed the proposal, saying his company would adopt Amodei’s recommendation for “independent evaluators with employee-like access.” Elon Musk, who heads xAI Corp., also voiced support, writing, “Dario is right.”

Why Amodei wants AI development slowed

Amodei pointed to two key developments behind his growing concerns: the possibility that AI could eventually improve its own capabilities and a recent incident involving OpenAI and Hugging Face, in which a group of AI agents worked together to breach a third-party website.

“We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain," he wrote on Saturday in a blog post.

However, Amodei stressed that any effort to moderate AI development would need to take into account the competitive pressure within the industry.

“To be clear, pacing does not mean halting model training or technical progress, but ensuring companies take adequate time to align and safeguard their models, and for third party evaluators to confirm this,” Amodei wrote.

Anthropic has consistently presented itself as an AI company focused on developing the technology with greater safety and responsibility, with the aim of reducing potential risks while maximising its benefits to society, as per Bloomberg. Earlier this year, the company took steps to restrict the release of its Mythos model after concluding that it could create distinct cybersecurity risks.

Anthropic has also mentioned in the past that a collective framework is needed to determine when AI development should be slowed.

Despite that stance, Anthropic remains engaged in an intense rivalry with OpenAI as both companies work to develop increasingly advanced AI models capable of handling more complex and commercially valuable tasks. Both firms have submitted confidential filings for potential public listings, with Anthropic reportedly considering an IPO as early as this year.

OpenAI's listing would not happen until 2027: Altman

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, however, said this year would be an “ill-advised moment” for the company to go public. In an interview with Fortune published on Saturday, he said OpenAI's listing would not happen until 2027. “I think it is unacceptable to be taking like a 10% chance of killing everybody by the end of the decade,” he added.