U.S. President Donald Trump said his government threatened to arrest an executive at one of the largest artificial intelligence companies in the industry. In an interview on the program 60 Minutes, on CBS, aired on Sunday (November 8), he reported that the executive received a warning to say goodbye to his family because he would be taken to prison the next morning.
Trump did not reveal the name of the executive or the company. According to his account, U.S. authorities received information that someone was “doing something bad with artificial intelligence”, but he did not specify what the conduct was.
Describing the conversation, the president said members of his administration gave the executive a direct warning:
> “Do you like the color orange? Go home now, see your wife and children, give them a goodnight kiss, because tomorrow morning you’re going to prison.”
The reference to the color orange alludes to the uniforms used in certain American prisons.
Asked by journalist Ross Douthat about the person’s identity, Trump refused to answer. When the interviewer asked whether the person involved ran a major AI company, the president confirmed that it was “one of the big ones”.
According to Trump, the threat had an immediate effect and the executive “changed everything” after the phone call. He did not explain which practices were modified, when the episode occurred or whether there was any formal criminal investigation.
The president added that he did not believe the behavior had been intentionally malicious, although he did not rule out that possibility. The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider.
The episode was mentioned during a discussion about the risks of artificial intelligence and the need for government oversight. Trump argued that the Justice Department could handle problems associated with the technology, but said he does not want to impose restrictions that would leave the United States at a disadvantage against China.
The account remains without independent confirmation of the executive’s identity, the nature of the alleged irregularity or the prison threat described by the president.
