President Donald Trump said in a 60 Minutes interview that federal prosecutors threatened the leader of a major AI company with arrest, and the warning changed how the company operates. He did not name the executive or company, and gave no details about what was reported or how the company responded. His account rests only on his own description.
President Donald Trump said in a 60 Minutes interview that federal prosecutors had threatened the leader of a major artificial intelligence company with arrest, and that the warning changed how the company operates.
Which AI Company Did Trump Describe?
Trump did not name the executive or the company. He described the company only as "one of the big ones" and said the Justice Department had acted after someone was reported to it for doing "something bad with AI."
What Did Trump Say About the AI Company Threat?
"We called them very strongly and said, 'Get ready to go to jail. Please give your wife a kiss good night,'" Trump said, according to a transcript of the interview. He said that after the threat, "this person totally changed everything."
Does Trump Think AI Safety Risks Are Overstated?
The comments came in response to a question about warnings from AI executives regarding the safety of their models. Trump said the danger is overstated. "I think that the risk is not nearly as real as it– as they talk, and I think the risk can be managed, and it's managed," he said.
Trump has previously dismissed the term "artificial intelligence" as language used by people he considers the enemy. During the interview, however, he used the phrase "AI" repeatedly rather than "SI" or "super intelligence." He eventually said China's Xi Jinping was "all in to SI, as I call it, because it really is super intelligence." He added, "It's a much better name, I think, because it's not artificial."
Ross Douthat, who conducted the interview for 60 Minutes, asked whether Trump would work with Democrats on AI safety. Trump said he "absolutely would."
"I don't mind guardrails, but I don't want to put us in a deep second position," Trump said. "We're leading number one. And China has no guardrails, by the way."
He said Beijing's system works differently. "They have the guardrails that whatever President Xi says goes," Trump said. "With me, it's pretty strong, but it's not quite that strong."
The interview offered few specifics about the alleged threat. Trump gave no details about what the company was reported to have done, when the warning was issued or what the company did in response. His account rests on his own description of events.
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