Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark renewed calls for AI regulation, despite President Donald Trump dismissing concerns about the fast-advancing technology as “sick conspiracies.”
Clark and other technology industry leaders are urging the Trump administration to help establish safeguards aimed at preventing artificial intelligence from posing a threat to humanity, even as competition between the United States and China intensifies.
In a Monday interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, the Anthropic executive said rogue AI agents had already hacked into other computer systems.
“What we’re saying here is we need to get a sensible, common-sense safety framework in place for the industry so that Americans can have confidence in the technology that we’re building and we don’t roll the dice on some kind of accident,” Clark said.
He argued that the US could introduce those protections without sacrificing its lead over China in AI development.
“What we’re talking about here is the need to have some equivalent set of safety standards for the AI sector,” Clark said, adding: “The worst time to react to an exponential [threat] is when it’s too late.”
Clark said waiting for a serious AI-related accident before adopting broad restrictions could ultimately undermine America’s ability to compete with Beijing.
“How you keep being ahead is you make sure that you don’t roll the dice on public safety,” Clark reiterated.
Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark reinforced his and other AI executives’ push for artificial intelligence regulations during an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier.
President Donald Trump on Monday described concerns surrounding AI as “sick conspiracies.”
He also rejected suggestions that Anthropic’s position was motivated by money or the potential for a public offering, calling the theory an ‘absurd 4D chess move.’
Clark noted that Anthropic has previously paused development on its AI model, Claude, to invest in safety.
‘But we can’t act alone,’ he argued. ‘We need to act with industry [executives] to develop a common set of standards, and we need ultimately there to be a larger policy conversation about what do we think are the common rules of the road here for everyone building this technology.’
Clark then urged Trump to raise AI safety concerns during discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
‘This is not a scared moment,’ he insisted. ‘This is a moment to use our agency as people to decide the future we want.’
But Trump declared on Monday that only he can ensure the safe use of AI in the United States because of his ‘high IQ.’
‘The only control or “guardrails” that AI needs is a strong and smart (High IQ!) president, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!’ the president wrote on Truth Social.
Trump has long said that halting US AI development will only benefit China, who is racing ahead to dominate the critical technology
He then went on to call Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei an AI alarmist who poses as a ‘perfect little angel.’
‘The Trump Administration has stopped AI “people” from doing bad, or potentially bad, “things,“ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a “perfect little angel” – and we will continue to do so!’
Trump also alleged that ‘there is a sick conspiracy going on against AI data centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China.’
The Trump administration has held that China stands to benefit from the US slow-rolling its AI deployment. Republicans have posited that anti-data center protests have been propped up by Chinese officials.
‘Whoever wins AI, wins,’ Trump continued. ‘We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, beware!’
In a follow-up post, Trump wrote the only reason for the ‘AI/Data Center outburst’ is because the US is leading the world ‘by a lot’ in AI development.
‘Don’t kill the Golden Goose,’ Trump added.
Showing his own understanding of the nascent technology, when pressed by reporters on whether AI could end up wiping out humanity on Sunday, Trump coolly responded that it ‘won’t happen.’
Trump named Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei as an AI alarmist who poses as a ‘perfect little angel’
In a third AI-related post he published on Monday, Trump cast doubt on why industry leaders are so alarmed.
‘Concerning AI, when, in the History of Business, did anyone see the Leaders of an Industry call for Regulation that, if strongly implemented, will drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy?’ Trump wrote, adding the hysteria around AI is a ‘hoax.’
‘AI, and Data Centers, will be the Greatest Economic Development Engine in History — Bigger than Oil, Gold, Diamonds, or even the Internet. It will not be stopped by brilliantly run Destructive Forces during the Term of President Donald J. Trump!’
Others in the Trump administration have also expressed their skepticism of the doomsday claims.
‘I feel a little bit weird about the fact that you have so many frontier AI tech companies coming to the government and begging the government to regulate them?’ Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Monday.
‘It feels a little bit to me like a bit of a Trojan horse!’
‘We know the Chinese are engaged in an AI race against the US…we want to do things smartly and stay ahead of the curve,’ he noted.
Meanwhile, former Trump AI and crypto czar David Sacks voiced concern that AI firms calling for the government to crack down on their industries could be engaging in ‘regulatory capture,’ where the large corporations calling for regulators to set standards could benefit from their competition having to abide by new rules.
Should the government place new regulations on AI firms, Sacks and others believe that the largest companies, like OpenAI, Anthropic, among others, would be able to afford whatever changes may come, while smaller companies may be forced to shutter if they cannot comply with any forthcoming federal AI framework.
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