Political and business figures pushed back against appeals from major AI developers over the weekend asking for a slowdown or pause in progress on frontier systems.
US President Donald Trump, during a live panel discussion, phoned Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang and called concerns about AI’s impact "all a hoax." A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry dismissed remarks by leaders of frontier AI labs as "fear‑mongering."
The Wall Street Journal observed that talk about AI’s "potential role in destroying humanity" had uneven market effects — hurting some stocks while helping others.
At the same time, public concern is rising: Gallup reported that the share of US workers who fear technology will take their jobs increased by 7 percentage points over the past year.
Why this matters
Calls from AI developers to pause or slow development have struggled to gain political and corporate traction, which complicates efforts to form a coordinated regulatory response across governments and industries. The public denials from political leaders and the mixed reactions in financial markets suggest that technological advancement is likely to continue at pace, even as societal worries — particularly about job displacement — grow.
This report is based on reporting by Prashant Rao.
