Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Saturday criticized AI executives who want federal guardrails, saying they should slow development on their own.
Speaking on “The Axios Show,” Bessent said AI leaders should not need Washington’s involvement to pump the brakes. He likened them to Hannibal Lecter, the serial killer in “The Silence of the Lambs.”
“It’s kind of like Hannibal Lecter: Stop me before I kill again,” Bessent said. “This alarmism without solutions by some of the AI community — that’s not leadership.”
White House Backs Voluntary Self-Policing
The remarks fit the administration’s response to a push last month from AI leaders for an organized industry slowdown. They cited fears that the technology is getting out of control. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei was among AI leaders calling for stronger government guardrails and a slowdown in frontier AI development.
Instead, President Donald Trump convened AI CEOs at the White House. The meeting produced a voluntary pledge to self-police, meaning the commitments are not binding law.
Bessent said the companies appear to be listening. He cited OpenAI‘s recent decision to shelve a new model after internal tests raised questions about whether it would follow user instructions. “The labs have been very cooperative,” he said.
Safety Concerns Persist Inside the Industry
Not everyone is convinced. Sarah Heck, Anthropic’s head of public policy, said last week on X, “You can’t do safety from second place.”
David Robinson publicly announced his resignation and criticized OpenAI’s rapid development culture, arguing that the company is not exercising enough caution as its AI systems become more capable.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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