Jimmy Fallon has mocked the president for claiming he can protect Americans from the threats of AI because of his “High IQ!”
“President Trump dismissed concerns over AI, posting on Truth Social, ‘The only control or guardrails that AI needs is a strong and smart (high IQ) president,’” began the late-night host.
“Well, I feel better,” he quipped.
“We’re relying on Trump to beat AI? I don’t even think Trump can beat Wordle,” Fallon continued. “You know what I’m saying?”
As major tech players and AI insiders sound the alarm on the existential threat posed by artificial intelligence, Trump attempted to shut down these fears.
“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!” the president wrote on Truth Social. “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!”
Fallon observed that Trump was pulling out his frequent brags about taking multiple cognitive tests and scoring “perfectly” on them. “Trump was like, ‘I’d like to see ChatGPT pick out a zebra in a cognitive test,’” he said.
According to Fallon, Trump’s version of “handling” the situation will entail a classic maneuver: “He’s going to change the name from artificial intelligence to American intelligence.”
Fallon continued, “Keep in mind, up until a week ago, Trump thought AI stood for ‘American Idol.’” He imitated the president, saying mockingly, “I’ve spoken with Ryan Seacrest, and we’re perfectly safe.”
Trump’s affinity for AI usually entails posting bizarre, often inappropriate generative photographs of himself, which Fallon pointed out. “For some reason, Trump’s not eager to stop something that lets him make photos of himself as Jesus riding a bald eagle,” he said.
“So... yep, Trump said that concerns about AI have been exaggerated by ‘very negative forces.’ And then he announced plans to fight those forces with a new military branch called the Very Negative Force Force,” the Tonight Show host concluded.
Trump’s dismissals of these concerns counter rampant warnings from Anthropic researchers about the looming danger of artificial intelligence. In a viral essay, Dario Amodei, head of Anthropic, said the risks are “serious” and deserve government attention. An ex-Anthropic researcher told the BBC that “if we don’t slow down at the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future.”Anthropic alignment researcher Evan Hubinger went as far as to say, “We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!”
Sam Altman and Elon Musk have followed suit, raising concerns and backing Amodei’s call. Musk said “Dario is right,” adding that AI is “potentially more dangerous than nukes.”
Trump’s cavalier attitude renewed calls to invoke the 25th Amendment. The president continued to double down on his view, saying he is “the Hoax Buster.”
