Bessent Calls AI Doom Warnings Alarmist, Urges Industry Self-Regulation

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticized prominent figures in the artificial intelligence industry for issuing warnings about existential risks, calling such statements alarmist and unhelpful, while urging the industry to pursue self-regulation and offer solutions.

In an interview published by Axios on Oct. 3, Bessent said: "I think we have to be prepared for all kinds of situations, but on the other hand, some people in AI are just alarmists and don't have solutions. That's not leadership." He also agreed that people in labs must take responsibility and noted that labs have started to accept that idea.

In September, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI head Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk called for slowing down the development of the most advanced models, citing growing risks. Bill Gates also warned that AI could be powerful enough to cause "1 billion deaths" and urged government regulation.

President Donald Trump dismissed those warnings as a "hoax" and insisted the US must continue advancing AI to stay ahead. During a meeting in the week of Oct. 3, 2026, with tech executives including Musk, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Palantir CEO Alex Karp and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Trump rejected new federal regulation and backed self-regulation, including external assessments of AI system safety.

Asked about industry executives calling for regulation, Bessent said: "Then they should slow down." He added: "We want safe acceleration."