Trump says AI risks are manageable in 60 Minutes, and once warned the head of a major AI company to prepare for jail
According to the transcript of CBS’s 60 Minutes interview, when asked about AI safety risks, U.S. President Trump said: I think the risks are far less real than they say, and the risks can be managed, and are being managed. He said the U.S. Department of Justice is responsible for the relevant oversight.
Trump said: Someone was reported for using AI to do bad things. We were very tough and called them and said: Prepare to go to jail. Say goodnight to your wife. He declined to reveal the specific person or company name, but confirmed the other party was the head of one of the major AI companies, and said that afterward the person had completely changed everything. When asked whether he would be willing to work with Democrats to draft AI safety legislation, Trump said he would be absolutely willing, and said, I don’t mind putting up guardrails, but I don’t want the United States to fall behind in the AI competition.
Original sources:
Title: 60 Minutes Transcript: Donald Trump, the 2026 post-midterm elections interview Publisher: CBS News Publication date: 2026-11-08 URL: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-2026-post-midterm-elections-interview-60-minutes-transcript/ Nature of source: official interview transcript Verification status: the AI-related passages were actually read in this round; verification date 2026-11-09; no access restrictions Supported content: supports Trump’s statements that AI risks are far less real than claimed and manageable, that the Department of Justice stepped in to warn the head of a major AI company to prepare for jail, that the other party then completely changed everything, that he declined to reveal the specific name, and that he was absolutely willing to work with Democrats to set guardrails but did not want to fall behind China
ABAB AI Insight
In the interview, Trump attributed AI risk control mainly to case-by-case enforcement by the Department of Justice rather than systemic legislation. The case he described was that after receiving a report, authorities issued a prepare-for-jail warning to the head of an unnamed major AI company, and the other party then changed behavior. Trump did not specify the exact violation, whether there was a formal investigation or charges, or provide details that could be independently verified.
In terms of competition, Trump framed AI development as a race with China. He said China has no guardrails, and that the United States could end up in a deep second-place position if it imposed too many restrictions. He also said he would be absolutely willing to work with Democrats on safety measures, but explicitly made that conditional on not harming America’s leading position. In the interview, he also referred to the technology as superintelligence (SI) and said Chinese President Xi Jinping is fully invested in it.
All of the above is currently Trump’s unilateral account. Regarding his claim that the Department of Justice once warned the head of a major AI company, there has so far been no public response from the Department of Justice or the relevant company, nor an independent source confirming the specific details of the incident. Observable follow-up developments include whether any company or the Department of Justice responds to the claim, and whether the Trump administration proposes a concrete bipartisan AI safety legislative initiative.
ABAB News · Law of cognition
Trump’s statement that the Department of Justice once warned the head of a major AI company is currently only his unilateral account in the interview, lacking independently verified details.
He said he is willing to set up guardrails, but with not falling behind China as the priority condition; the scope of any legislation remains unclear.