Trump’s 60 Minutes interview touched on AI safety and the threat of arresting an AI executive.

When asked about AI executives’ warnings about the security of their models on 60 minutesTrump said: “I think the risk is not as real as he says it is – at the time they are talking about it, and I think the risk can be managed, and it is managed. He claimed the DOJ was managing this risk, saying, “We had a situation where someone was reported to us as doing something wrong with AI. We called him very strongly and said, ‘Get ready to go to jail. Please kiss your wife goodnight.'”

Trump declined to name the person or company he was referring to, but said it was the head of an AI company, “one of the biggest.” He said that after the threat of arrest, “this person totally changed everything.” Although he previously claimed that “artificial intelligence” was a term used by people he considers the enemy, Trump repeatedly spoke about AI rather than SI or superintelligence during the interview. Ultimately, he declared that China’s Xi was “…deep in IS, as I call it, because it really is super intelligence. It’s a much better name, I think, because it’s not artificial.”

60 minutesRoss Douthat then asked if Trump would work with the Democrats on AI safety, and Trump responded that he “absolutely” would, adding: “I don’t mind the guardrails, but I don’t want to put us in second place. We’re at the top of the rankings. And China doesn’t have the guardrails, by the way. (…) They have the guardrails that apply to everything President Xi says. With me, that’s enough strong, but it’s not that strong.”