President Donald Trump made clear in the past week that he views fears that artificial intelligence could lead to mass extinction as a “HOAX”, and that he sees opponents of data centres as people who “want to end up being backwards and poor”.
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who → make → people
People who have discussed the subject with Trump say his outbursts are rooted in worries that if the artificial intelligence boom fuelling the American economy slows down, the market could crash and recession could quickly follow.
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recession → discuss → economy
His anti-regulatory, anti-slowdown outbursts have been encouraged by a slice of Silicon Valley’s most influential voices.
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outbursts → encourage → voices
Chief among them has been David Sacks, a venture capitalist who interceded to weaken an executive order in May that would have required safety reviews of new AI models.
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that → intercede → models
Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Jensen Huang of Nvidia have also spoken to the president.
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Zuckerberg → speak → president
All have advised Trump that the bigger risk is being overtaken by Chinese competitors.
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risk → advise → competitors
But inside the administration, the debate is far more complex, and there are other voices in Trump’s ear, urging caution.
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debate → be → caution
The more cautious tone inside the White House reflects a growing concern that despite the strategic challenge posed by China, a summer of AI surprises has raised the prospect of risks that were often dismissed a year ago as the wild talk of “doomers”.
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that → reflect → doomers
Now, even the biggest AI boosters in the administration concede that AI-fueled hacks into infrastructure, biological threats, attacks on nuclear command-and-control systems, job losses and global financial instability seem more possible than they did before AI agents went rogue.
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agents → concede → systems
The issue of AI safety is expected to come to a head this weekend as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent meets in New York with his Chinese counterpart to set the agenda for Trump’s visit in Washington with President Xi Jinping of China, which starts Wednesday.
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which → expect → China
Bessent is trying to negotiate some kind of agreement between Trump and Xi that would suggest the two countries are working together on mutual AI safety concerns.
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countries → try → concerns
But already, officials say, some of the most expansive ideas being discussed among AI safety experts, including an agreement on safety standards and reviews of forthcoming Chinese and American AI models before their public release, are unlikely to be part of any initial accord.
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some → say → accord
One diplomat involved in the effort said he believed “the best we can hope for” is the creation of some kind of US-China working group that might build on a Biden-era agreement with China to bar the use of artificial intelligence in decisions about the employment of nuclear weapons.
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that → involve → weapons
But that does not begin to get at the complexity of the problem of unpredictable AI-driven agents, which took the industry and the government by surprise this northern summer.
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which → begin → surprise
Nor does it get to the fundamental issues surrounding imposing safeguards on frontier models.
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it → get → models
The United States could go its own way and impose mandatory reviews of the safety of new, American-generated models, but Trump and his aides believe that would effectively drive the global market to Chinese largely open-source alternatives.
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that → go → alternatives
And because those open-source models can be modified by users — who could remove the “guardrails” meant to limit their powers — a safety review may mean little.
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review → modify → little
Trump wants to meet with the AI executives next week, according to company representatives.
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Trump → want → representatives
(A White House official said Thursday that nothing was on the schedule as of now.)
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nothing → say → schedule
If that session happens, it would presumably include some of the AI executives who, in recent days, have been calling for the kind of slowdown in the release of new models that Trump says he opposes.
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he → happen → that
Few expect Dario Amodei, a founder of Anthropic, to be among the invitees: His company’s products have been banned by the Pentagon, and he appeared to anger Trump by proposing last weekend a detailed plan for the industry to pace itself and bring in independent safety inspectors.
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industry → expect → inspectors
Trump dismissed him, and denounced an unnamed class of “Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors and Leakers” who were politicising the debate over AI and undercutting American leadership.
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who → dismiss → leadership
But another Anthropic founder, Tom Brown, who raises less ire in the White House, talks to officials regularly.
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who → raise → officials
In recent days, Trump has also talked with Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of SpaceX, both of whom endorsed Amodei’s plan to slow down, test new models for vulnerabilities and let in outside inspectors, at least in general terms.
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both → talk → terms
Bessent and the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, have been increasingly concerned over the past several months that AI could cause massive disruptions across industries, including hacks into major financial institutions that could destabilise the world economy.
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that → cause → economy
Wiles this year began organising an informal group to think about how to deal with the risk created by new, more powerful models.
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Wiles → begin → models
Bessent is chief among the members of that informal group, an administration official said, but other experts are called in depending on the topic.
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experts → say → topic
President Trump is saying that Democrats using AI concern as a way to score points is a hoax, just like their claims that climate change would kill everyone in six years.
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change → say → years
The White House pointed to Wiles’ social media post on May 6 as the foundational statement of how Trump balances the risks and opportunities of the new technology.
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Trump → point → technology
“This administration has one goal: ensure the best and safest tech is deployed rapidly to defeat any and all threats,” she wrote at the time.
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she → have → time
She said that “the White House will continue to lead an America First effort that empowers America’s great innovators, not bureaucracy, to drive safe deployment of powerful technologies while keeping America safe”.
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that → say → America
Asked about Trump’s accusation that AI risk is overblown, Elizabeth Huston, a White House spokesperson, said, “President Trump is saying that Democrats using AI concern as a way to score points is a hoax, just like their claims that climate change would kill everyone in six years.”
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change → ask → years
She added that Trump had reversed the “failed approach” of the Biden administration, which she said had “stifled innovation, hurt consumers and nearly cost America its competitive edge over China.
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she → add → China
But at a moment when AI has emerged as arguably the most important long-term issue for the country’s economic health and national security, in the Trump White House there is no single person in charge of coordinating AI policy.
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AI → emerge → policy
Marco Rubio, in his role as national security adviser, is rarely discussed as a player on these issues.
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Rubio → discuss → issues
The White House eliminated the post of deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies created during the Biden administration.
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House → eliminate → administration
And the national cyber director, a position created by Congress, has only indirect authority over artificial intelligence issues.
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director → create → issues
The current director is Sean Cairncross, a former senior official at the Republican National Committee, who was light on cyber and AI experience before taking the post.
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who → take → post
(The acting director of CISA said last week that the agency was hiring about 250 new employees after shedding about 1000 jobs — roughly one-third of its workforce — since Trump returned to the White House.
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Trump → act → House
As a result, AI has become the administration’s latest hot potato, with various officials dipping in and out of influence depending on the topic, or the day of the week.
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officials → become → week
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
