Why Trump will not yield to an AI slowdown
AI generated
PHILADELPHIA –
asserted
AI → yield → slowdown
In the middle of cascading fears of artificial intelligence running amok and one day posing grave danger to human society, President Donald Trump has made a clear choice: the US must not slow down.
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US → cascade → choice
“Whoever wins AI, wins,” he said, defying calls from tech industry leaders to regulate cutting-edge AI for the sake of safety and framing the choice as a geopolitical question of beating China.
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he → win → China
“We’re leading China in AI.
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We → lead → AI
We’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly I want to keep it that way,” he told reporters during a trip to Ireland.
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he → ’re → Ireland
In a flurry of comments and social media posts, Trump has also scoffed at the world’s most influential AI companies, dismissing their concerns as “a hoax”.
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Trump → scoff → hoax
The only safeguard the nation needs is a “strong and smart (high IQ) president,” he said on Truth Social.
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he → need → Social
The question of regulating AI came to the fore after Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei, the developer of Claude AI, warned in unusually specific terms on Sept 12 that AI could be capable within six to 12 months of coordinating swarms of autonomous agents powerful enough to take over the internet.
uncertain
AI → regulate → internet
It is time to stop competing for technical supremacy, accept outside scrutiny and jointly slow down to focus more on safety before going any further, Amodei said in a lengthy essay.
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Amodei → stop → essay
Voluntary action by a single company would not be enough, he said, asking for safety standards coordinated among democratic governments and for negotiations with “authoritarian powers” like China.
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he → say → China
Against the backdrop of a series of hacks in recent months that showed AI agents can conspire to deceive humans, Amodei’s call gained surprising support from some of his biggest rivals – OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis.
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call → show → rivals
xAI’s Elon Musk and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella also indicated agreement.
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Musk → indicate → agreement
As the idea of a slowdown began trending, Trump spoke louder.
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Trump → begin → slowdown
He questioned the acumen of the tech CEOs calling for government oversight.
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He → question → oversight
“When, in the history of business, did anyone see the leaders of an industry call for regulation that, if strongly implemented, will drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy?” Trump said on social media.
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Trump → see → media
“It’s a hoax,” he insisted in a live five-minute phone call with Nvidia chief Jensen Huang, who was speaking at a Sept 14 conference in Los Angeles.
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who → ’ → Angeles
“The robots are not going to be taking over the world.
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robots → go → world
That’s not going to happen.”
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That → go → ?
Huang, who heads the world’s top company designing advanced AI chips, is on the other side of the debate and has dismissed AI risks as overblown.
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who → head → risks
Trump’s former AI czar David Sacks, the Silicon Valley investor who has shaped much of the administration’s AI policy, also reacted with hostility.
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who → shape → hostility
Posting on social media, he said Amodei’s call smacked of “regulatory capture” or an attempt to seal in an early mover advantage through rules that leave newer rivals hobbled.
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that → post → rivals
AI companies can choose to act responsibly on their own, he wrote on X.
“If the unreleased models are scary enough that you think you should slow down, I support your decision to be responsible.
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I → choose → decision
But stop pretending you need anyone else’s permission,” he posted on Sept 13.
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he → pretend → Sept
“Most of all, stop pretending the motivation to slow down is purely altruistic.
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motivation → stop → all
You face massive product-liability exposure if your products enable a truly damaging cyberattack.
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products → face → cyberattack
”
Call for safety timeout hits wall in Congress
Trump, who plans to summon AI executives for a meeting in the coming days, has a clear preference for light-touch regulation of AI, which he sees as supercharging the US economy.
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he → hit → economy
Soon after taking over in January 2025, he signed an executive order revoking a Biden administration directive on AI oversight and ordered his agencies to develop a plan to sustain America’s global AI dominance.
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he → take → dominance
Six months later, “America’s AI Action Plan” provided a blueprint for accelerating innovation while reducing federal scrutiny.
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Plan → provide → scrutiny
In June 2026, Trump signed another executive order that left it up to companies to decide whether they want their new AI models reviewed by the government.
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models → sign → government
But on national security and cybersecurity issues, the White House has proven it has the “kill switch”.
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it → prove → switch
It banned Anthropic’s advanced Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models for a couple of weeks in June 2026, over a fear that their cybersecurity guard rails could be circumvented.
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rails → ban → fear
It had to use export control laws because there are no AI-specific safety laws.
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It → have → laws
US lawmakers, politically divided on AI regulations, have not attempted any comprehensive statute either.
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lawmakers → divide → statute
With the midterm elections less than seven weeks away, they are under growing political pressure to act as public sentiment on AI and data centres sours.
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sentiment → grow → AI
Something should be done, the congressional leaders say, but there are no firm plans or the will to regulate.
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leaders → do → ?
Floating about are loose proposals like seeking to address catastrophic risks involving biological or nuclear threats emanating from AI or banning superintelligent AI or devising ways to ensure testing and oversight of the most advanced AI systems.
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proposals → float → systems
It is also a factor that Congress remains technically under-equipped and struggles with tough questions like who should regulate AI and how the rules can be enforced.
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rules → remain → AI
Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican ally of Trump, has stressed corporate obligation rather than a legal regime.
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Johnson → stress → regime
Companies have “an obvious corporate responsibility that the people who are creating these models have to ensure that their products are safe”, he has said.
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he → have → models
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House, has shuffled blame.
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Jeffries → shuffle → blame
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
