As public fears of AI grow, Trump digs in on voluntary safeguards
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump spent Sept 29 showcasing his administration’s approach to artificial intelligence – touting the US government’s new AI chatbot, dining with tech titans at the White House, and announcing a voluntary agreement with those executives that he said would address growing fears about the technology’s safety.
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he → grow → safety
The display signalled that Trump is eager to show he is addressing growing voter concerns about AI’s dangers without imposing restrictions that could hamper the technology’s development, AI safety advocates said.
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advocates → signal → development
The safety agreement with six companies – Nvidia, SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Alphabet’s Google – includes no stated consequences if a company chooses not to comply.
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company → include → consequences
Trump described it as “morally binding”.
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Trump → describe → it
“This was an attempt to give the impression that the government is listening to these concerns without undercutting what has been a very clear and consistent line from this administration: that regulation and governance inherently impede innovation,” said Kat Duffy, who runs an AI team at the non-partisan Council on Foreign Relations.
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who → give → Relations
Whether voters buy Trump’s effort in the run-up to US midterm elections on Nov 3 remains to be seen.
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buy → buy → Nov
Public uneasiness with AI, and the small group of people who seemingly hold sway over it, has risen in recent months.
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who → hold → months
Three-quarters of Americans worry that AI companies have not gone far enough to prevent AI from causing serious harm to society, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Sept 22.
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companies → worry → Sept
A series of security events has also underscored how advanced AI can act unpredictably.
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AI → underscore → events
Hundreds of OpenAI AI agents broke out of their testing environment in July and attacked the infrastructure of AI platform Hugging Face.
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Hundreds → break → Face
In early September, Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned, saying that the people building AI believe it “could kill us all by the end of the decade”.
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it → resign → decade
His words, and others, sparked a flurry of calls from US lawmakers for AI regulation.
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words → spark → regulation
Through it all, Trump has largely dismissed those concerns, saying that government restrictions would make it harder for American companies to compete against their Chinese counterparts.
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companies → dismiss → counterparts
He has repeatedly said that US law enforcement agencies such as the Justice Department serve as sufficient guardrails, and that no new rules are needed.
He also directed his administration to call AI “super intelligence”, part of an effort to improve the reputation of an unpopular technology.
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He → say → technology
The concerns have become prominent enough to make their way into late-night comedy.
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concerns → become → comedy
In late September, “Saturday Night Live” satirised Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei, one of the industry’s most outspoken voices on AI risks – even as his company readies a public stock sale that could value it at US$2 trillion (S$1.28 trillion) – with cast member Jane Wickline portraying the executive.
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Wickline → satirise → executive
“AI is not a weapon, it’s a tool: A tool for building weapons.
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it → ’ → weapons
And I urge you to urge me to stop,” Wickline said as Amodei.
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Wickline → urge → Amodei
Concerns about enforcement
The accord, inked on Sept 29, does include measures that AI safety advocates have sought, including calling for “robust internal controls” to prevent unauthorised hacks, as well as partnering “independent external auditors”.
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advocates → ink → auditors
Those concepts have been included in draft state and federal legislation, and California in September enacted the first state law setting rules for how independent auditors evaluate AI products.
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auditors → include → products
But the one-page White House document did not address details or enforcement mechanisms.
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document → address → details
A White House official said in a statement that the agreement will “advance American innovation and strengthen responsible development” of AI models.
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agreement → say → models
Trump is expected to name his Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton as his top AI adviser, Reuters previously reported, a position he has dubbed “AI czar”, even as Clayton stays in his role leading the nation’s intelligence agencies.
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Clayton → expect → agencies
Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat representing Silicon Valley, welcomed the idea of “independent auditors”, but said that they should report to an independent federal agency.
“They can’t just be auditors that report to (OpenAI chief executive) Sam Altman or Dario Amodei,” he said.
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he → represent → Altman
“My concern is the President basically trusting these guys who have a huge profit motive and won’t have the judgment to keep us safe.”
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who → trust → us
Venture capitalist David Sacks, who advises Trump on AI and has been an advocate for unrestricted AI development, said on the social media platform X that securities law and other legal authorities would penalise companies that fail to address problems uncovered by internal controls or auditors.
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that → advise → controls
But AI safety advocates told Reuters those authorities can address harms only after they occur, saying the threats require safeguards designed to prevent large-scale harm before it happens.
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it → tell → harm
Nevertheless, some AI observers saw the simple fact of hosting the event as an indication that Trump is absorbing the worries.
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Trump → see → worries
Trump’s agreement with the tech executives is “a shift towards acknowledging that there are serious safety and security concerns that merit closer coordination between the companies”, said Samuel Hammond, AI policy director at the conservative Foundation for American Innovation.
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Hammond → acknowledge → Innovation
The Aporia
