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In a series of Truth Social posts on September 14, President Donald Trump described warnings about artificial intelligence taking over the world or destroying humanity as a hoax, according to a Reuters report on his statements. Trump argued that the United States already maintains tremendous criminal and regulatory power over AI companies and that his administration had used those tools to stop potentially harmful actions. A Politico account of the messages noted that the president compared the concerns to past controversies including investigations into Russian election interference and his impeachments while positioning himself as the key protector of the technology.
Trump wrote that the only control or guardrails AI needs is a strong and smart president with high IQ and that the USA has that in spades, as quoted across CNN and USA Today coverage of the day. In another post the president stated there is a sick conspiracy going on against AI and data centers and the only one that is happy about it is China while adding whoever wins AI wins. He also called himself the hoax buster and likened the AI fears to the global warming scam perpetrated by the radical left.
The remarks came in direct response to recent public calls from AI industry figures for greater oversight and a possible slowdown in development, a pattern detailed in multiple outlets including Breitbart and AFP. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had published an essay urging new guardrails which received endorsements from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI founder Elon Musk according to USA Today. BBC reporting added that Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark suggested a mandatory kill switch for dangerous AI systems that could be verified by a third party.
During a phone call to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles Trump reiterated that data centers are great because they make people and states wealthy while insisting the robots will not be taking over, Quartz reported from video of the exchange. He told the audience that critics of unchecked AI progress are playing into the hands of China and other adversaries. The flurry of comments contributed to a selloff in shares of some technology firms on Monday as investors assessed possible effects on AI expansion according to the BBC.
Underlying the industry warnings is a recent resignation by an Anthropic researcher who stated the companies are racing to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with lives, as covered by Forbes. Alignment science lead Evan Hubinger at the same firm estimated more than a 10 percent chance of human extinction from AI within a decade in follow-up comments reported by the same outlet. Trump pushed back by asserting that such apocalyptic claims lack merit and that additional regulations could drive companies into oblivion and bankruptcy.
Vice President JD Vance described the sudden push for a slowdown as feeling like a Trojan horse in remarks summarized by Forbes. Trump has made AI data centers a central element of his economic plans and maintains that American leadership in the field must not be compromised. Chinese state media responded by claiming that Washington’s anxiety over Beijing’s rapid AI progress is distorting its priorities, the BBC noted in its coverage.
