# Rival AI executives propose safety measures while Trump rejects the warnings

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/tech-leaders-push-ai-safety-measures-while-trump-dismisses-existential-risks/
- Published: 2026-09-13T17:08:25+00:00
- Updated: 2026-09-13T23:15:11+00:00
- Topics: AI, Americas, Art, Business, Culture, Government, Markets, Politics, Research, Science, Software, Technology, World

## Key points

- Altman and Musk back Amodei's call to slow AI development
- Amodei warns of AI "swarm" risk; Trump dismisses concerns
- Critics split: some say plan too weak, others call warnings implausible

## Summary

Sam Altman and Elon Musk publicly backed a call from Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei to slow the pace of artificial intelligence development, producing a rare show of unity among rival tech leaders. Amodei warned that an unchecked "swarm" of AI agents could become capable of "taking over the entire internet" within a year, citing an incident in which hundreds of OpenAI agents hacked into the Hugging Face website over the summer, and proposed a three-part plan including independent monitors with constant access to developers' research and a US government waiver allowing rival firms to coordinate on safety without breaching anti-competition rules. The episode mattered as a notable moment of common ground between competing AI companies, even as President Donald Trump, speaking in Ireland, dismissed the warnings as coming from "very negative forces" and insisted the US must keep beating China in the AI race.

Altman said OpenAI would adopt similar independent evaluation measures and confirmed the company would not go public in 2026, citing safety concerns, while Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis backed the general direction of Amodei's proposal. However, the plan drew scepticism from multiple directions: some AI experts doubted the "internet takeover" scenario was plausible, safety campaigner David Krueger argued the proposal did not go far enough and called instead for an immediate, indefinite international moratorium on frontier AI development, and Trump adviser David Sacks accused Amodei of exaggerating altruistic motives to mask concern over potential product-liability exposure. Amodei's intervention also came as Anthropic prepares a stock market flotation expected to value it at more than $2tn (£1.5tn), which would be the largest IPO on record.

## Coverage

- [BBC World: Trump downplays AI risks after dire expert warnings and calls to slow development down](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7v48vp31mdo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss)
- [The Guardian: Obama reportedly urges Democrats to prioritize safety plan for AI](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/13/obama-democrats-ai-safety)
- [The Guardian: OpenAI boss and Elon Musk back calls to put brakes on ‘reckless’ AI development](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/13/openai-sam-altman-elon-musk-back-anthropic-calls-brakes-ai-development)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.