The Zhitong Finance App learned that TSM.US (TSM.US) Co-Chief Operating Officer (Co-COO) Y.J. Mii compared artificial intelligence (AI) to a toddler with extraordinary abilities but doesn't know right or wrong, and explains why the company is cautious about using this technology.
As one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global AI data center boom, TSMC regards protecting its proprietary technology as a top priority. The foundry giant, which serves tech giants such as Nvidia (NVDA.US) and Apple (AAPL.US), is particularly cautious in using AI to process sensitive R&D information.
Y.J. Mii said on Tuesday that if employees don't use AI properly, the company faces the risk of data breaches or loss, and mentioned incidents where OpenAI and Anthropic PBC models infiltrated outside organizations. He said, “AI is like a 3-year-old superman. It may be very powerful, but it doesn't know what kind of damage it can do. And it doesn't know what's right or wrong.”
Y.J. Mii made this comment in response to questions about the use of AI in the workplace at a career forum with students in Taipei, China. He paid more attention to the actual limitations of this technology in applications such as cutting-edge chip design. The executive said that as of now, TSMC doesn't think AI is that useful in helping create the next generation of semiconductor technology. TSMC is developing next-generation A14 and A10 process technologies, and these technologies are constrained by factors such as equipment lacking sufficient capabilities, and AI cannot solve these problems.
AI industry giants call for a slowdown in AI development Trump criticizes
Y.J. Mii did not comment in detail on the controversy that AI poses a wider risk to humans, and this is the focus of recent market discussions. After the previous incident where “rogue” AI agents infiltrated Hugging Face and other data systems, AI industry giants rarely called for “deceleration” in unison.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amoudi called for a slowing down of cutting-edge AI model development in a cautionary post published on September 12. In the article, he said bluntly that the risks posed by AI are “serious” and that time must be taken to deal with these risks.
The core concerns raised by Amoudi are specific and urgent. He warned that according to the current pace of development, AI may have the ability to command “proxy clusters” to take over the entire Internet within 6 to 12 months, and could cause hundreds of billions of dollars in losses. Citing recent security incidents between OpenAI and Hugging Face as supporting evidence, he pointed out that AI agents have demonstrated the ability to break through restricted environments, connect to the internet, and infiltrate targets in tests.
Amoudi wrote, “I believe if the slowdown allows us to take an extra year or two before the model reaches critical competency levels and use this time to advance alignment work, we can greatly reduce the risk of serious problems.” He proposed that an independent auditor oversee the safety work of AI laboratories, and recommended that regulators allow these laboratories to cooperate to harmonize safety standards.
The appeal was quickly answered by two key figures. Musk retweeted Amoudi's post on social media platform X and added: “Dario is right.” The tech giant, who has described AI as a “civilizational risk” many times, is consistent with his consistent position, but the timing is intriguing. Just a few days ago, he also dismissed Anthropic's internal researchers' warnings about the dangers of AI as a “conspiracy” and “psychological warfare.”
Oltman, the leader of OpenAI, wrote on X: “I agree with Dario. We need to control the pace of advancement of cutting-edge AI.” Altman's support is more than just words. In an interview, he made it clear that OpenAI will not conduct an IPO in 2026. The reason is that the current AI security situation is serious, and “it is unwise to go public now.” Altman said on September 14 that the company supports the establishment of a unified federal AI security framework and sets consistent security requirements for cutting-edge AI laboratories, adding that “any degree of competitive pressure from the US cannot be a reason to act recklessly.”
However, US President Trump expressed strong dissatisfaction with Amoudi's remarks on Monday, saying that in commercial history, he has never seen industry leaders take the initiative to call for supervision, and once such supervision is strictly enforced, it will cause companies to disappear or even go bankrupt. He said that the series of negative claims that AI will take over the world and destroy humans are all scams.
Trump said his administration has blocked people in the AI industry from doing “bad or potentially harmful things,” and used Anthropic's Amodei as an example, accusing the other party of pretending to be a “perfect little angel.” He stressed that the US government already has strong criminal and regulatory powers to restrain these AI companies, and will continue to take action in the future.
Nvidia CEO Wong In-hoon also responded to AI security concerns that have sparked widespread discussions recently on Monday. Hwang In-hoon said that warnings from AI company insiders and “whistleblowers” should be taken seriously, and particularly praised Anthropic's “whistleblower” Jacob Coxon, believing he had “great courage” to raise concerns and warn that AI companies may be developing too fast. However, Hwang In-hoon denied the prediction that “AI could destroy the world,” saying that such opinions “have no scientific basis.” He said that if AI companies think their AI development is “out of control,” then these companies should suspend related work or slow down the pace of development.
Furthermore, Michael Berry, a well-known shorting investor known as the “big short,” questioned the AI industry giants' unanimous call to slow down the pace of AI technology development, and called this act “selfish and self-beneficial.” He said the push by OpenAI, Anthropic, and other big AI companies could slow down rapidly developing competitors, thereby benefiting existing businesses. He also questioned the basic premise of this argument, arguing that large-scale language models are not general artificial intelligence, so “there is simply no AI that needs to be slowed down.”
Burry also pointed out that the so-called “active call for a slowdown” is only to cover up the real dilemma where the slowdown in industry growth is uncontrollable and the listing plan has been forced to be postponed. Plus, IPOs require hype and bragging. Shouting “We're too strong to be dangerous” is essentially an advanced form of marketing and self-promotion.