Donald Trump dismisses AI safety concerns, prioritizes competition with China

President Donald Trump waved off warnings that artificial intelligence could threaten human existence, telling reporters on September 11 that his only real fear is the US falling behind China in the AI race.

When asked whether AI could lead to human extinction, Trump’s answer was a flat “no.” His primary concern, he said, is competitiveness. China, in his view, operates with “virtually no controls” on AI development, and the US needs to keep its lead.

The warnings Trump is brushing aside

Jacob Coxon, an AI researcher, recently posted on X that leading companies were “gambling with our lives” as they race to build self-improving systems. The post gained significant traction among AI insiders, many of whom backed his assessment.

Coxon isn’t a lone voice. Researchers from both Anthropic and OpenAI have suggested there is more than a 10% chance of human extinction from AI within the decade. For context, that’s roughly the odds of rolling a one on a ten-sided die.

Competition over caution

Earlier in 2026, the administration delayed and then eventually issued an executive order creating a voluntary framework for reviewing advanced AI models.

Trump described the US lead over China in AI development as significant, positioning America’s advantage as a national security asset that regulation could erode.

The US and China are planning their first dedicated AI safety dialogue of Trump’s second term in mid-September 2026, ahead of a leaders’ summit scheduled for September 24.

What the tech sector hears

Several major AI labs have internal safety teams whose members have publicly voiced concerns about the pace of development.

The upcoming US-China AI safety dialogue adds another variable. Any agreements or frameworks emerging from those talks could introduce new constraints that markets haven’t priced in. Conversely, a breakdown in dialogue could intensify the arms-race dynamic, pushing both nations toward even less restrained development.

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