President Donald Trump said he has “no concerns” about artificial intelligence causing human extinction, as researchers at OpenAI and Anthropic publicly raised serious concerns about the risks of rapidly advancing AI systems.

Asked Thursday whether AI could lead to human extinction, Trump replied, “No, I don’t have any.” He said his primary concern was ensuring that the United States wins the AI race against China.

“I have concerns that if we don’t win AI, we’re going to be put in a very bad position,” Trump told reporters. He added that he believes the U.S. is currently ahead of China by about a year.

The comments came as employees and researchers at two of the world’s leading AI companies warned that development may be moving too quickly for safety measures to keep pace. The competing priorities place the pace of AI development and the scope of safeguards at the center of the debate.

Researchers Raise Concerns About Recursive Self-Improvement

Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon announced Tuesday that he was leaving the company. Coxon said Anthropic and OpenAI were “gambling with our lives” and claimed that people building AI believe it could “kill us all by the end of the decade.” Other employees at both companies have expressed similar concerns.

A central concern among AI safety researchers is recursive self-improvement, or RSI. The term refers to a scenario in which an AI model gains the ability to improve its own performance without human assistance.

Jasmine Wang, an alignment researcher at OpenAI, posted on Wednesday evening: “It’s hard to overstate how dangerous speeding towards RSI is.”

OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki added to those concerns on Saturday. He said he has a “strong expectation” that AI progress could continue into recursive self-improvement territory.

“I am concerned no one is prepared for the consequences of a continued rapid rise in machine intelligence,” Pachocki said.

Congress Pushes for Greater AI Oversight

Lawmakers from both parties are seeking increased oversight of advanced AI systems. In July, Rep. Jay Obernolte and Rep. Lori Trahan announced plans to introduce the FRONTIER Act, which would establish rules governing the deployment of advanced AI models.

Trahan wrote on X Wednesday: “Safety researchers are resigning, powerful AI models are breaking out of their labs, and companies are racing ahead anyway. It’s past time for Congress to get off the sidelines and do its job.”

Earlier this month, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar introduced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act. The legislation would temporarily pause advanced AI development until the federal government establishes safety rules. Together, the proposals show that the policy debate concerns both how advanced models are deployed and whether development should continue before new safeguards are in place.

Trump has not signaled support for either bill. His focus remains on keeping the United States ahead of China in the global AI competition, underscoring the widening divide between the administration’s position and the concerns expressed by AI safety researchers.

Source: CoinCentral.