Michael Dell joins debate on 'safeguards and controls' for AI models; sends 'strong message' to government, OpenAI and Anthropic

Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell warned that artificial intelligence requires strict safeguards and controls, weighing in on an escalating national debate over the existential risks posed by rapidly advancing AI systems. Speaking on CNBC, Dell framed the emergence of artificial intelligence through the lens of foundational human technologies. “I think we’ve always had technology that can do great things and maybe do some not-so-great things,” Dell said. “You know, fire can heat your home. It can also burn down your whole village. So that’s not good. So we have to have safeguards and controls.”Dell emphasized that both the public and private sectors bear responsibility for managing these risks. While calling on AI developers to establish "bounded permissions" within their tools, he acknowledged that government intervention is necessary. However, Dell declined to outline specific legislative or policy measures, noting that he is not a policymaker.AI is not wiping humanityDell also doesn't believe that AI is coming to kill humans. He disagrees with the view that AI will destroy humanity by 2030; says, "It will be fine."His remarks arrive amid growing alarm from researchers and industry veterans over catastrophic risks tied to recursive, self-improving models. The current wave of scrutiny gained momentum following an early September warning from former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who resigned after publicly arguing that frontier laboratories are gambling with human lives in an unchecked pursuit of superintelligence.Coxon’s departure galvanized prominent tech executives, with leaders such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei voicing support for regulatory intervention and a coordinated pause in frontier model deployment.Sees no AI bubbleMichael Dell also dismissed concerns about an AI bubble, pointing to a shortage of computing capacity and rising rental prices for Nvidia's H100 chips as signs of sustained demand. "I don't think there's enough supply for it to be a bubble," Dell said. He further pointed to the strong demand for compute. He added that customers are seeing significant returns from using computing resources to generate intelligence.Despite those calls, the Trump administration has resisted mandatory pauses and statutory guardrails. At a White House luncheon late last month, President Donald Trump gathered leading tech executives to sign a voluntary, "morally binding" pact pledging to self-regulate system safety alongside independent evaluators.That voluntary agreement has largely stalled formal federal regulation, even as public anxiety mounts over AI safety and the sweeping footprint of data center expansion. With the midterm elections just weeks away, the debate surrounding artificial intelligence oversight has emerged as a pivotal battleground that could determine which party controls Congress for the remainder of Trump’s term.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.