Trump Rejects New AI Rules, Criticizes Anthropic CEO Over Slowdown Call

President Donald Trump on Monday rejected growing calls for more artificial intelligence regulation and criticized Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei over his push for an AI slowdown.

In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that the only control AI needs is a strong and smart president, adding that the United States already has that. He said his administration has stopped AI from doing bad things and would continue to do so.

In a follow-up post, Trump said the only reason for the current AI and data center debate is that the United States is leading every other country by a lot. He warned against killing the golden goose.

Trump's defense of largely unfettered AI growth came as leading industry voices raised alarms. Amodei published a blog post titled We Must Pace the Frontier, arguing for slower development to reduce the risk of serious problems.

Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quit and warned the technology could kill us all by the end of the decade, accusing OpenAI and Anthropic of gambling with lives. Other tech CEOs, including OpenAI chief Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, said over the weekend they agreed with calls for a slowdown.

The Trump administration has broadly encouraged rapid industry growth and data center development as it seeks a technological edge over China. Trump said Saturday that the U.S. is leading China in AI and wants to keep it that way.

In his Monday post, Trump claimed AI companies are already sufficiently reined in, writing that there is tremendous criminal and regulatory power over them. He called the push against AI and data centers a sick conspiracy that only benefits China.

Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

White House AI czar David Sacks pushed back on AI fears Saturday, writing on X after Amodei's warning that tech giants should pace the frontier themselves. He said they should stop pretending the motivation to slow down is purely altruistic, citing product-liability exposure, and added that China would be very unlikely to join a global regulation agreement.

Any attempt at AI regulation by Congress appears highly unlikely before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. House members are set to leave town Thursday and remain in their districts through October.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday downplayed the need for legislation to rein in AI development, telling CNN's State of the Union that an emergency session to regulate AI would mean losing the race to China. He said there is no need to panic and that the technology should be handled responsibly without smothering American innovation.

Source: CNBC