When the time comes to render a verdict on Donald Trump’s second presidency, there are plenty of crises that could damage his score.

Having promised to solve Russia’s war on Ukraine on “day one” of his presidency, Trump’s actions have only led to escalations from both sides of the conflict. In the Middle East, Trump took more than a year to secure an uneasy ceasefire in Gaza, only to ignite the whole region with a fresh war against Iran, for which he seems to have no exit strategy. Meanwhile, Trump’s outright hostility to anything resembling green technology means the world is paralysed into inaction on the climate crisis.

Trump’s failures in these areas, though, might not be what he is remembered for. Instead, it could be the handling of another looming crisis that defines his presidency: what did Trump do about the rise of artificial intelligence?

Headlines over the last week have been dominated by the possibility of super-intelligent AI posing an existential threat to humanity, prompted by alarming self-directed cyber-attacks carried out by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and by warnings from an AI “whistleblower” who dramatically resigned from its rival, Anthropic.

The leaders of the big AI companies have, unusually, been falling over themselves to agree that their technology is incredibly dangerous, and should be regulated. This is raising alarm in some quarters. Why, if tech leaders believe AI is so high risk, are they building it so fast? It’s also led to scepticism, with some suggesting it may all be a ploy to boost the stock price of AI companies.

Saying your product might wipe out humanity – which is what both AI bosses and whistleblowers are........

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