Bessent defends Trump administration's safety stance on AI

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday that the Trump administration has been working on AI safety "nonstop" since April, and said the administration forced Anthropic to withdraw a model it did not believe passed safety standards. Bessent urged lawmakers to reject liability waivers sought by AI labs, saying "the best way to guarantee safety is that the creators are liable for what they build," after President Trump on Monday rejected calls for AI guardrails in a Truth Social post. The hearing followed calls this week from the CEOs of Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX to slow the pace of AI development.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that the Trump administration has been working on artificial intelligence safeguards "nonstop" since April, amid calls this week from the chief executives of Anthropic ANTH.PVT https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ANTH.PVT/ , OpenAI OPAI.PVT https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/OPAI.PVT/ , and SpaceX SPCX https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SPCX/ to slow the pace of the technology's development. "We've been working on safety nonstop since the release of Mythos," Bessent told lawmakers during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. Mythos is an advanced AI model Anthropic developed that can find deep software flaws https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/article/ai-is-supercharging-the-cybersecurity-fight-140831946.html . Bessent and Federal Reserve leaders have warned banks about cybersecurity and stability risks, and Bessent said Tuesday that the administration forced Anthropic to withdraw a model because it did not believe it passed safety standards. While AI executives have publicly advocated for an industrywide slowdown https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/article/heres-where-the-biggest-tech-names-stand-on-slowing-ai-development-195849555.html , Bessent noted they are simultaneously lobbying for liability waivers — a concession he strongly opposes. "I can tell you what we shouldn't do on safety is to give these labs a liability exemption, which is what they are asking for," he said, urging lawmakers to reject any such proposals. "The best way to guarantee safety is that the creators are liable for what they build and generate and put out into the economy and to the American people." Bessent's comments come after President Trump on Monday rejected calls for guardrails on AI models https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/article/trump-dismisses-calls-to-slow-ai-development-blames-conspiracy-against-ai-and-data-centers-153021111.html , writing in a post on Truth Social https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117269745153543631 that the government already has "tremendous criminal and regulatory power over these companies " "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 wrote. "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 " During the hearing, Massachusetts Democrat Stephen Lynch, ranking member of the House subcommittee on AI and crypto, questioned whether the president fully grasps the technology's risks. "Sometimes when I hear the president talk about AI, and … when I listen to the president, I do not believe he has a grasp of what we're dealing with AI," said Lynch. "We're having a control problem … Do you think the president understands that?" Bessent defended Trump, saying he is "completely aligned with Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia." Trump and Huang share a pro-growth agenda for AI, aggressively pushing for US dominance in AI acceleration, expanding domestic data center infrastructure, and rejecting calls from other tech leaders to slow down development. Their alignment was in the spotlight on Monday when Trump made a surprise phone call to Huang while the CEO was speaking live on stage at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles. Huang put the president on speakerphone, broadcasting their policy alignment to the audience in real time.