Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: AI Developers Must Accept Responsibility, Not Liability Shields

Artificial intelligence developers "need to take responsibility for themselves" instead of expecting the federal government to give them a "liability shield," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Monday.

"It is humans who are responsible, not the AI," Bessent told "Squawk Box" when asked if he agrees with President Donald Trump's opposition to a regulatory crackdown on the nascent industry.

Bessent's comments came as some AI leaders have raised alarms about the risks posed by their rapidly advancing models. But their calls for a potential slowdown of the industry have received pushback from Trump, who strongly supports the industry's expansion in the U.S.

Bessent was also asked about interest rates, his talks over the weekend with his Chinese counterpart, He Lifeng, as well as Trump's attempt to ban media outlets from the White House.

The Treasury secretary met with the Chinese vice premier ahead of the summit in Washington later this week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Treasury chief last week touted a Sept. 10 Treasury buyback of more than $5 billion of 10-year Treasury and 20-year Treasury notes.

Since the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran began in late February, the benchmark 10-year Treasury's yield — which moves inversely to the note's price — has increased by about 100 basis points, rising above 5% last week for the first time since 2007.

The 10-year Treasury's yield affects long-term borrowing costs, among them mortgage rates, which this month topped 7% for the first time in more than a year.

In testimony to the House Financial Services Committee on Sept. 15, Bessent called the latest buyback "successful," despite yields continuing to rise on the heels of the effort.

"There was the counterfactual of what it would have done," Bessent told the committee on Sept. 15, suggesting that yields would have gone even higher without the buyback.

"Since President Trump has come in, [the U.S. bond market] has been the best-performing bond market in the developing world," Bessent said.

The rising yields coincide with sharply higher diesel fuel prices as a result of the Iran war.

Concerns about the affordability of fuel and other essential consumer items have Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress worried about retaining their majority control there in November's election.

At the midterm Republican National Convention on Sept. 9, Trump vowed every U.S. citizen adult would get a "dividend" of $5,000 if Republicans kept control of both the Senate and House of Representatives.

On Sept. 16, the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee for the first time since 2023 raised benchmark interest rates to a target range of 3.75% to 4% in what the committee said was an effort to reduce what it termed "elevated inflation."

Trump, who appointed Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, has repeatedly demanded that the Fed cut rates. But the president told reporters he spoke with Warsh before the FOMC meeting and said, "You might as well vote with the board. It's not going to matter.'"