Trump baffles with 'tremendous' claim after existential warning about AI

President Donald Trump called for “tremendous self-regulation” of artificial intelligence Tuesday as tech leaders and lawmakers sound alarms about the potentially catastrophic risks posed by the advancing technology.

Trump made the remarks after meeting with some of the industry’s most high-profile executives at a White House summit on AI, where the president was asked whether he and those in the room with him believed government guardrails or regulations were necessary.

“Well, there's a belief that there should be tremendous self-regulation,” Trump said. “We automatically have regulation with the Department of Justice, the FBI, all of that.”

“But the self-regulation is very important,” he added.

The comments came days after Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates offered a starkly different reaction, arguing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that government oversight is necessary and warning that AI is powerful enough to “cause a billion deaths.”

Trump still seemed unfazed.

“These are the greatest, most brilliant people in the world,” Trump told reporters Tuesday of the group that included tech billionaires Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. “And the job they’ve done is unbelievable.”