‘Only Talking Crisis Isn’t Leadership’: US Treasury’s Bessent Warns AI Industry

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned artificial intelligence executives who have highlighted the technology’s dangers not to stoke excessive fear and instead offer solutions.

In an interview with political news outlet Axios published on October 4, Bessent said the U.S. should be prepared for every scenario. But he added that it is not leadership for parts of the AI industry to offer only crisis narratives without solutions.

Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and xAI Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk argued last month that the risks AI poses to humanity are increasing and that development of cutting-edge AI models should be slowed. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates also recently called for tighter regulation, saying AI could become powerful enough to cause mass casualties.

President Donald Trump, however, immediately characterized those arguments as a false crisis narrative. Trump’s position is that the U.S. must continue developing AI to preserve its technological edge over China. Bessent likewise said the U.S. must not cede its lead to China.

Bessent said responsibility for risks stemming from AI should rest first with developers and research labs rather than the government. “The people in the labs need to accept responsibility,” he said, adding that AI labs are beginning to adopt that mindset.

He emphasized that the U.S. government is pursuing “safe acceleration” in AI development. As for the industry’s calls for regulation, Bessent said companies can slow development themselves first.