Johnson echoes Trump ‘hoax’ claim over catastrophic AI warnings

The House speaker equated tech industry comments about the potential for civilization-ending artificial intelligence to predictions about the impact of climate change — but he said AI should still develop with “common sense” safety guidelines.WASHINGTON (CN) — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday brushed off worries from artificial intelligence researchers about existential threats posed by the fast-developing technology, echoing President Donald Trump’s claim those worries were little more than a “hoax.”But the top House Republican, who said he plans to meet with CEOs of the major artificial intelligence labs, nonetheless contended he took AI seriously and that the U.S. government should strike a balance between safe regulation and effective competition with China.Policymakers and tech industry advocates scrambled last week following a chilling warning from a former Anthropic AI researcher who said the people building artificial superintelligence “earnestly believe” their work could bring about the end of humanity within the decade. He said neither Anthropic nor OpenAI — another pillar of AI development — were “acting responsibly” as they compete to become the first to develop an artificial intelligence system capable of self-improvement.But worries about the “civilizational stakes” of AI landed with a thud at the White House, where Trump quickly dismissed them as fearmongering by Democrats.“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 Monday on his social media platform Truth Social. In a series of follow-up posts, Trump claimed the “same people” calling for greater regulatory constraints on artificial intelligence had warned about the effects of climate change.“I am the Hoax Buster, and I’m right now breaking another Hoax — That AI is going to take over, consume and destroy the World, and that Robots will be marching into our Cities and getting rid of us all!” the president wrote. “This is even wilder than the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX, or the Global Warming Scam.”Speaking to reporters during a news conference Tuesday, Johnson closely mirrored Trump’s comments.“They literally said, ‘we’re all going to be dead in 10 years,’” the House speaker said. “What the president is saying is, you’re not all going to be dead in 10 years. That’s a hoax.”Johnson also compared concern about AI to climate change, invoking New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “What was her stupid thing? Was it climate change? She said we’re all going to be dead in 10 years.”The top House Republican further suggested that warnings about artificial intelligence were conveniently timed to the midterm elections in November. “We’ve all seen this movie before — we’re 49 days out from an election, a catastrophe is created,” Johnson argued. “The media gets spun up. Social media gets spun up.”But while he dismissed statements about the future of AI as “alarmism,” the speaker acknowledged the technology’s rapid development was serious and that the government should work with the industry to self-regulate.“We do need to make sure that it’s done safely, but let’s again apply common sense,” Johnson said. “If you’re a corporation in America, including a tech corporation, you have a responsibility to make safe products.”The top House Republican repeated a claim made by some AI industry leaders and former government officials that existing U.S. product liability law binds artificial intelligence labs and that there was no need for a moratorium on AI development as prescribed by some lawmakers, including Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.“They can self-regulate,” Johnson said of the AI companies. “If they want to slow it down, they should. But we cannot have a moratorium on the development of AI because then we will lose our edge to China — and that has serious national security implications for every American family.”Following warnings about the pace of AI development, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay this week calling for the industry as a whole to slow down and establish a system of global coordination to ensure advanced artificial intelligence develops safely. His call to action was cosigned by OpenAI founder Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who owns his own AI company.Trump, for his part, claimed Monday his administration had stopped AI companies, including Anthropic, from doing “bad, or potentially bad” things and that Amodei “is now pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel.’”Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads