Trump calls Nvidia’s Jensen Huang mid-interview as AI safety debate takes centre stage at All-In Summit
Donald Trump interrupted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s AI discussion, rejecting fears of AI taking over. Huang emphasized AI safety while supporting rapid development.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s conversation at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles was unexpectedly interrupted when US President Donald Trump called in, turning an ongoing discussion about artificial intelligence and its risks into a broader public exchange on the pace and direction of AI development.
As Huang attempted to connect Trump to the conversation on speakerphone, Trump joked about the contrast between Huang’s ability to develop advanced computing technology and his difficulty putting a phone call on speaker. Once connected, Trump used the opportunity to reject fears that artificial intelligence could eventually become uncontrollable. “The robots will not be taking over,” he said, while maintaining that caution around AI was necessary but should not become a reason for the US to slow its development.
Trump subsequently reiterated the position on Truth Social, describing concerns that AI could “take over, consume, and destroy the World” as a “hoax”. His remarks come as questions around AI safety and the potential consequences of increasingly capable systems have become a more prominent part of the technology industry conversation.
Huang, while appearing on the same stage, adopted a more measured position on the issue. He said AI safety was paramount and supported the need to address risks associated with the technology, while disputing the framing of AI as an existential threat to humanity as unscientific. He argued that the US could continue advancing AI rapidly while maintaining safety and responsible development.
The discussion also followed the resignation of former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who publicly raised concerns about the potential consequences of advanced AI. Coxon had warned that AI could pose a threat to humanity’s survival within the decade, intensifying an existing debate within Silicon Valley over the safeguards required as frontier AI systems become more capable.
Huang distinguished between raising concerns about problems within an AI company and making predictions about the long-term consequences of the technology. He said whistleblowing about issues witnessed inside a company was legitimate, while questioning the scientific basis of broader predictions about AI’s future. Huang also said he did not personally know what Coxon had witnessed during his time at Anthropic.
He further described frontier AI companies as being in a transition from organisations primarily focused on research to ones increasingly driven by engineering. The exchange at the summit consequently placed two positions on AI development in sharp focus: Trump’s rejection of fears around AI taking control and Huang’s emphasis on advancing the technology while keeping safety central to its development.