U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent compares AI leaders calling for regulation to Hannibal the cannibal from The Silence of the Lambs

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, responding on The Axios Show to AI leaders calling on the government to strengthen guardrails and slow development, said such "doomsaying without solutions" is not leadership, and compared them to Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs—"stop me before I kill again." He argued that AI companies should slow down on their own. His remarks align with Trump calling AI doomsday predictions a "scam," House Speaker Mike Johnson requiring AI CEOs to bear personal responsibility, and the White House's voluntary safety agreement signed last month.