US president Donald Trump has dismissed warnings that artificial intelligence could threaten humanity, calling such concerns a “HOAX” and saying they are even less credible than what he described as the Russia and climate-change controversies.
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Trump made the remarks on Monday as he argued that the US must continue pushing AI development, while asking his followers on Truth Social whether the technology should be called “SUPER INTELLIGENCE” or “SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE”.
“Which name do we like for the new phenomena — SUPER INTELLIGENCE VS. SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE?” Trump wrote, accompanying the post with a poll offering the two options.
In a subsequent post, Trump targeted those warning that AI could lead to human extinction or autonomous robots attacking people.
“The same people that said, ‘We’ll all be dead in twelve years because of Global Warming,’ a name since ‘reborn’ to Climate Change, because the Planet was cooling, not warming, and nobody was dead, are the people that are now saying that AI is going to kill us, that robots are going to attack us, and everything is a DISASTER,” he wrote.
Trump added: “This is more of a Hoax than even that of RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, and Climate Change!”
He also linked AI development to the US-China technology race, writing: “Whoever wins AI, WINS! We are leading now over China, and everyone else, and I’m going to keep it that way!”
Trump said he would not restrict the technology because of its potential economic impact. “I’m not going to stifle Growth, of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution, or the Internet, itself,” he wrote.
His comments come as world leaders gather in New York for the 81st United Nations General Assembly high-level week, with AI, climate change and conflicts among the issues expected to dominate discussions. The general debate runs from September 22 to 28.
