Trump rejects AI guardrails amid industry warnings

President Donald Trump rejected calls for new guardrails on artificial intelligence Monday, saying the technology needs only “a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT” and warning that slowing development would help China.

The comments, posted on Truth Social, came after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged AI companies to “slow the pace” of development and allow more time to manage risks from increasingly capable systems. Other technology leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, have also called for a serious slowdown or endorsed elements of Amodei’s proposal, according to CBS News and Al Jazeera.

“The Trump Administration has stopped AI ‘people’ from doing bad, or potentially bad, ‘things,’ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel’ — and we will continue to do so!” Trump wrote, referring to Amodei and Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot.

“We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies!” Trump continued. “There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”

It was not clear what criminal or regulatory rules Trump was referring to, CBS News reported. In December, he signed an executive order aimed at easing AI regulations.

Trump returned to Truth Social later Monday to dismiss fears that AI could spiral beyond human control, writing that “AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX.” He described AI as “the Greatest Economic Development Engine in History — Bigger than Oil, Gold, Diamonds, or even the Internet.”

The dispute has intensified since Amodei published an essay Saturday warning that AI agents “could be capable of taking over the entire internet, potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage” within six to 12 months, Al Jazeera reported. Amodei also told CBS News last week, “I won’t lie to you – there are real dangers,” adding, “I think for too long the industry lied to people about the fact that this technology had risks.”

Last week, former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned and wrote on X that OpenAI and Anthropic were “gambling with our lives.” He said “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” Anthropic researcher Evan Hubinger responded on X that Coxon was right, writing, “we really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!”

Anthropic also released a report Friday saying it had intervened to stop Claude from being used for potentially harmful activities, including cyber-espionage, weapons design and mass surveillance, Al Jazeera reported. The company said some users sought help writing missile-guidance and flight-control software and that others attempted to create potential bioweapons for military use. Anthropic said it had stopped many attempts through internal safeguards and had no evidence that a working weapon had been fielded.

The warnings have drawn attention in Washington. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Monday for a Senate briefing with top administration officials. House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested AI leaders meet to determine how to move forward, while saying, “we cannot put a moratorium on this because China will overlap us.” Vice President JD Vance said the warnings were “something that we’re concerned by” but added that companies asking for regulation felt “a little bit to me like a bit of a Trojan horse.”

Public skepticism is also high. An NBC News Decision Desk poll found 70% of adults were more worried than excited about AI, while 69% somewhat or strongly opposed an AI data center in their local area, including 57% of Republican voters.

China pushed back Monday against Amodei’s call to restrict Beijing’s access to advanced AI chips and equipment. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, “Fearmongering, confrontation and vicious competition will only disrupt the process of global AI governance — which serves no one’s interest,” NPR reported. China’s state-run Global Times called Amodei’s essay a “Cold War playbook” for the AI sector.

Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are expected to discuss AI governance, among other topics, at a meeting planned for Sept. 24, NPR reported.