President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed calls from leading AI executives for a development slowdown, labeling AI safety concerns a "hoax" and claiming a "SICK conspiracy" is targeting AI and data centers3,6.
"The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!" Trump posted on Truth Social14. In a series of social media posts, he compared AI safety warnings to the "Global Warming Scam" and what he called the "RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX".
Industry leaders aligned on a slowdown
The posts came after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a roughly 3,800-word essay on Saturday calling for slower AI development and more thorough safety standards2. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk publicly endorsed Amodei's position over the weekend4. Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark told the BBC that a verifiable "kill switch" for advanced AI systems, subject to third-party audits, may need to become mandatory13.
The executive appeals followed the resignations of Anthropic safety researchers Joe Benton and Jacob Coxon, who quit in protest of the company's work. Coxon's warning post on X garnered roughly 170 million views, accusing both Anthropic and OpenAI of "racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives".
Trump singled out Amodei by name, writing that his administration has stopped Anthropic "from doing bad, or potentially bad" things. Anthropic has had a fraught relationship with the Trump administration: the Pentagon attempted to label the company's models a security risk, and the administration temporarily banned access to Anthropic's frontier Mythos model.
Vance echoes skepticism
Vice President JD Vance reinforced the White House stance, calling the industry's push for regulation "a bit of a Trojan horse"7,10. "I feel a little bit weird about the fact that we have so many frontier AI tech companies kind of talking to the government and begging the government to regulate them," Vance told journalists. He advocated for Congress and the White House to agree on any regulatory approach to maintain consensus and preserve the U.S. competitive edge over China.
Trump's former AI czar David Sacks criticized Amodei and Altman, accusing them of conducting a "publicity stunt"5.
Congressional response splits
House Speaker Mike Johnson resisted sweeping regulation but called for AI executives, Congress, and the White House to "come together as soon as possible to figure out the right balance". Sen. Ruben Gallego called for a bipartisan AI select committee with subpoena power, saying "we can't afford to wait three years to act". House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said action on AI would be a high priority at the Democratic caucus meeting on Tuesday. Sen. Bernie Sanders called for a moratorium on data centers and urged Trump to negotiate an AI truce with China.
The safety debate rattled markets: the prospect of slower AI buildout led stocks to slip in Monday morning trading. Trump said on Sunday at his Doonbeg golf course in Ireland that beating China was the most important goal in the AI race, adding, "Whoever wins AI, wins".
The confrontation arrives ahead of a planned summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House, where AI safety is expected to be a central topic1. China's top intelligence official, Chen Yixin, warned in a state-run publication that AI could threaten the Chinese Communist Party's grip on power, calling for tighter government oversight. Microsoft on Monday published its own code of conduct for ensuring human control of AI, with AI chief Mustafa Suleyman saying the company had been working on the guidance for months.
ANALYSIS The White House's categorical rejection of new federal AI regulation, combined with congressional divisions and an approaching U.S.-China summit, leaves the industry's safety proposals without a clear federal pathway.