White House pushes back on AI 'extinction' fears, says US has tools to act

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios said the US government has the means to respond when problems arise with AI technology, pushing back against growing fears that the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity.

His remarks amounted to a rebuttal of what has been called the "AI extinction" theory — the idea that advanced AI could ultimately destroy humanity — by asserting that countermeasures exist.

Kratsios made the comments during an appearance on Fox News on Sunday (local time), addressing concerns about AI's existential risks that have been raised in recent months across US political, industry and academic circles.

"When a leading model developer released a model this summer, and the US government obtained credible evidence of certain cyber issues related to that model, a letter was sent to the company and the model was taken down until those cybersecurity issues were resolved," he said.

The remarks appeared to refer to Anthropic's decision in June to suspend access to its AI models "Fable 5" and "Mythos 5" following a US government letter that flagged the models for bypassing cybersecurity safeguards.

"It's not that we lack the tools," Kratsios said. "We have the means to make that happen" — referring to preventing AI-related risks.

Kratsios characterized calls for AI regulation coming primarily from the Democratic Party as politically motivated.

"This demand from the left in Congress is fear-mongering," he said. "It's what they're trying to do six weeks before the (midterm) elections." He added that "the idea that AI is going to take over the world, that Terminators are going to be walking the streets, and that the government needs to suddenly do something within six weeks of an election — that is delivering a false narrative to the American people."

Earlier, Donald Trump also repeatedly dismissed AI extinction theories and calls for a slowdown as a hoax and a conspiracy theory, expressing his opposition on Sept. 14 (local time).

Trump posted six AI-related messages on his Truth Social platform, reaffirming his determination to keep the United States' AI development moving at full speed and win the competition against China.

In his first Truth Social post, Trump wrote that there is "a disgusting conspiracy targeting AI and data centers," adding that "the only country that would be happy about this is China."

"Whoever wins in AI will win it all. We are ahead of China and every other country, and we will stay that way," he wrote. "Conspiracy theorists, traitors, betrayers, leakers — beware."

In a separate post, Trump said, "The only reason the rapid growth of AI and data centers is happening is because America is so far ahead of every other country," and urged, "Don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs."

He also declared that "AI taking over the world, destroying humanity, and making everything else bad is a HOAX," dismissing all warnings of human extinction as false.

Trump also called himself a "Hoax Buster," claiming the scenario of AI taking over the world was "far more ridiculous" than the "Ukraine scandal" or claims about global warming.