Trump’s 60 Minutes interview touched on AI safety, threat to arrest an AI exec

Stevie Bonifield

is a news writer covering all things consumer tech. Stevie started out at Laptop Mag writing news and reviews on hardware, gaming, and AI.

Asked about AI executives’ warnings about their models’ safety on 60 Minutes, Trump said, “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 claimed the DOJ is managing that risk, and said “AI” rather than “SI” or “super intelligence,” saying, “We had a situation where somebody was reported to us to be doing something bad with AI. We called them very strongly and said, ‘Get ready to go to jail. Please give your wife a kiss good night.’”

Trump refused to name the person or company he was referring to, but said it was the leader of an AI company, “One of the big ones.” He claimed that after the threat of arrest, “this person totally changed everything.”

60 Minutes’s Ross Douthat went on to ask if Trump would work with Democrats on AI safety, and Trump said he “absolutely would,” adding, “I don’t mind guardrails, but I don’t want to put us in a deep second position. We’re leading number one. And China has no guardrails, by the way. [...] They have the guardrails that whatever President Xi says goes. With me, it’s pretty strong, but it’s not quite that strong.”

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• Stevie Bonifield