Describing Himself as a “Hoax Buster,” Trump Dismisses Legitimate AI Concerns

In Truth Social posts on Monday, President Donald Trump downplayed concerns about artificial intelligence (AI), calling criticism of its unregulated expansion a “hoax,” even as experts warn about the speed at which the technology is growing.

The president’s post cited imagery reminiscent of sci-fi movies, rather than referencing the ways in which AI is already being used in warfare and to invade individuals’ privacy rights.

“AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX,” Trump wrote in his first post, “no different from RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA — UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE — IMPEACHMENT HOAX #1 — IMPEACHMENT HOAX #2 — and all of the other HOAXES and SCAMS that America was forced to endure.”

Notably, all of those items (the Russia investigation and potential charges Trump could have faced from it, the impeachment due to Trump’s leveraging aid to Ukraine for political dirt on former President Joe Biden, and his second impeachment due to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021) were not “hoaxes.”

In his second post, Trump reiterated his claim that warnings about AI were “hoaxes,” this time referencing the climate crisis, which is also not a hoax.

“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!” Trump wrote.

The posts came just one day after Trump dismissed the public push for AI to be regulated, labeling such calls as “treasonous.”

“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!” Trump said.

Other Republicans have similarly dismissed concerns about AI. On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) attempted to explain to reporters what Trump meant by the word “hoax.”

“When the president says ‘a hoax,’ what he’s referring to is, we’ve all seen this movie before. A catastrophe is created. The media gets spun up. Social media gets spun up. Everybody says we’re all … going to be dead in 10 years,” Johnson said. “What the president is saying is you’re not all going to be dead in 10 years. That’s a hoax.”

The recent comments from Johnson and Trump downplay serious warnings from former scientists and workers at these companies. Though some of the companies peddling and profiting off of AI have recently said that the development of the technology should be slowed down, they have advocated for self-regulation rather than government oversight.

Evan Greer, director of the digital rights group Fight for the Future, disagrees with that approach.

“We can’t trust the AI industry to regulate itself,” Greer said in a recent statement, adding:

We can’t really trust anything these self-interested billionaires say. But we should take them seriously that the technology they are building is dangerous. And we should act urgently to demand strict regulation that protects people and holds AI companies accountable for the harm they’ve already done, while also preventing future harm.

“It’s clear that these industry leaders think they are best positioned to craft AI policy for the good of all humanity. We think that’s horseshit,” Greer added, calling on lawmakers to listen to “independent experts, researchers, civil society, and the communities most impacted” by AI’s expansion.

“Whether humans use AI to kill each other or AI agent swarms do immense harm, it’s clear that unregulated AI poses an existential threat to human rights and liberty, if not humanity itself,” she continued. “Congress should act, but they shouldn’t just do whatever the AI bros tell them to.”