
US President Donald Trump dismissed AI safety fears as a 'hoax' and compared them to climate change and Russia investigations, while Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark advocated for mandatory AI 'kill switches' and Microsoft released guidance on 'humanist AI', triggering tech stock selloffs as investors weighed potential AI development slowdowns.
AI-generated summary
Recent warnings from AI executives and staff about risks to humanity triggered tech stock selloffs, prompting Trump to dismiss concerns as a 'hoax' and compare them to climate change and Russia investigations, while industry figures like Anthropic's Jack Clark advocate for mandatory AI 'kill switches'.
US President Donald Trump has said fears about the safety of AI are a "hoax", as he criticised calls to have more guardrails for the fast-moving technology.
It comes after Jack Clark, a co-founder of AI giant Anthropic, told the BBC that a "kill switch" for dangerous AI that can be checked by a third party may need to be mandatory for the industry.
Clark's comments followed warnings about the risks the technology poses to humanity that have been raised in recent days by several executives and staff at leading AI firms.
Those concerns triggered a selloff in shares of some tech firms on Monday as investors weighed the impact of a potential slowdown in the development of AI.
In a series of social media posts on Monday, the US president compared warnings about AI to the "Global Warming Scam", that he said was "being perpetrated by the Radical Left Dumocrats".
Trump also called himself "the Hoax Buster", likening concerns about the safety of the technology to "the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX".
In an earlier post, he wrote: "There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!".
On Monday, Chinese state media said experts had warned that "Washington's growing anxiety over China's rapid AI development appears to be increasingly distorting its policy priorities".
"They know that China has become a strong competitor in AI, and worry that if the US slows down development or tightens regulation, China could catch up even faster," Xin Qiang, a professor of American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times.
Clark, who is one of Anthropic's seven founders, said earlier on Monday that a way of shutting off AI software completely if it gets too dangerous was something society "might want to eventually pass rules around".
He added that "most labs have different ways of being able to pull the plug", including Anthropic, but said lawmakers may need to enforce having one.
Clark's comments add to the growing number of tech industry and political figures calling for better safeguards.
On Monday, Microsoft AI became the latest major company to discuss limiting the models it is developing, as it published an outline document on what it called "humanist AI".
The firm's chief executive Mustafa Suleyman told business news channel CNBC that it had been working on the new guidance for months and had decided to publish it now due to the current debate around the technology.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Congress will debate mandatory AI 'kill switch' legislation within the next 3 months
Possible · Within months
Tech stocks will remain volatile as AI regulation debates continue
Likely · Within weeks

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US President Donald Trump has dismissed security concerns about the rapid development of artificial intelligence, calling it a "sick conspiracy". At the same time, Microsoft published an AI code of conduct, while UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk warned of “unprecedented risks” and called for regulation.

Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark said that in the future, companies may need to mandate artificial intelligence emergency shutdown mechanisms that can be inspected by third parties to deal with the risk of AI becoming too dangerous. He noted that society may eventually need to set rules, and lawmakers may need to mandate such mechanisms. The remarks come as the debate on AI safety heats up. Industry figures, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, have repeatedly called for slowing down development and strengthening supervision, but some people have questioned its motives or believe that the risks have been exaggerated. The U.S. Congress has proposed the "Emergency Shutdown Act," which would require companies to have mechanisms to shut down problematic AI tools and give government agencies relevant powers. However, President Trump has dismissed the risk of AI exterminating humanity, calling it a hoax and likening it to past global warming hoaxes. Anthropic is preparing for an IPO with a valuation of $965 billion, while OpenAI has delayed its listing plans due to debates over AI safety.

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