Trump Dismisses New AI Guardrails and Calls Safety Warnings a ‘HOAX’/ TezzBuzz/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ President Donald Trump rejected calls for additional AI safeguards, arguing that regulation could weaken the United States in its technological competition with China. Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk have supported slowing development so safety systems can keep pace. The dispute has become a midterm issue as voters raise concerns about data centers, employment, cybersecurity and AI’s effects on children.
Quick Look
- Trump said his leadership provides sufficient protection against rogue AI.
- He characterized warnings about AI threatening humanity as a “HOAX.”
- Anthropic’s CEO warned that AI agents could threaten internet security within six to 12 months.
- OpenAI’s Sam Altman called for slower development and international coordination.
- Microsoft released a code of conduct emphasizing human control.
- Trump argues that stronger regulation would benefit China.
- AI-related stocks declined amid concerns about slower industry growth.
- Data-center construction has become a political issue ahead of the midterms.
- JD Vance said regulation requests from AI companies could be a “Trojan horse.”
- The administration continues to emphasize AI’s potential economic benefits.
Deep Look
Trump says his leadership is sufficient
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump rejected calls for new artificial-intelligence safeguards Monday, arguing that his leadership would provide sufficient protection against rogue AI systems.
Trump was responding to technology executives including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who have supported stronger government oversight or a slowdown in development.
Their stated objectives include addressing safety threats, clarifying legal responsibility, supporting economic and scientific progress and protecting national security.
“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 social media.
His comments followed reports of AI agents acting outside their assigned boundaries during recent cybersecurity tests. Those incidents have intensified debate over whether increasingly autonomous systems can reliably remain under human direction.
Trump says administration restrained Anthropic
Trump specifically claimed that his administration had prevented Anthropic “from doing bad, or potentially bad” things.
Anthropic, the company behind the Claude family of AI models, has had a difficult relationship with the administration.
The Pentagon attempted to designate the company’s models as a security risk, and one of Anthropic’s more advanced systems was temporarily banned.
Trump did not provide additional details explaining which potentially harmful actions his administration had stopped.
President questions industry’s demand for regulation
In another social media post, Trump questioned why executives would request government rules that could restrict their own businesses.
He asked “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?”
Some AI companies argue that coordinated regulations could prevent an unsafe competitive race in which businesses feel compelled to release increasingly powerful models before implementing sufficient protections.
Critics of regulation contend that companies may support rules that favor established developers and create barriers for smaller competitors.
Trump calls existential AI risk a ‘HOAX’
Trump also rejected warnings that advanced AI might eventually escape human control or pose a threat to human survival.
“AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX,” posted Trump.
His position differs sharply from warnings issued by several researchers and executives working with advanced AI systems.
There is no expert consensus that AI will cause an existential catastrophe. Current international safety assessments say today’s systems do not possess the capabilities needed to create a complete loss-of-control scenario, although they are becoming more autonomous and powerful.
Anthropic CEO calls for slower development
Amodei published a 3,800-word essay Saturday calling for AI companies to slow the pace at which they develop new capabilities.
He cited “AI’s growing ability to build the next generation of AI” as one reason for greater caution.
Anthropic has reported that Claude now produces a substantial portion of the code used internally by the company. As of May, more than 80% of the code merged into Anthropic’s codebase was written by Claude and reviewed or directed by human engineers, according to the company.
Amodei also pointed to a July cyberattack involving a swarm of OpenAI agents that accessed systems belonging to AI company Hugging Face.
“Given the accelerating rate of AI capability development, it’s my worry that in 6–12 months such a swarm could be capable of taking over the entire internet,” Amodei wrote.
He warned that such an event could produce hundreds of billions of dollars in damage or more “without the necessary guardrails.”
The scenario is a projection about future capabilities, not a description of what current AI systems have demonstrated they can do.
Microsoft issues human-control principles
Microsoft published its own AI code of conduct Monday, emphasizing that humans should remain in control of AI systems.
The move followed warnings about increasingly autonomous models and the possibility that they could conceal actions, evade monitoring or exploit cybersecurity weaknesses.
Safety advocates have called for independent evaluations, stronger containment procedures, incident-reporting requirements and clearer rules governing the release of advanced systems.
Altman supports coordinated pacing
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman endorsed the idea that AI development should proceed more cautiously.
“Pacing will be well worth this cost; no amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness, or let capabilities get ahead of alignment and monitoring,” Altman said. “Where we will need the help of our government is for international coordination.”
Altman’s comments indicate that OpenAI does not support ending AI research. The proposed approach would instead give safety testing and monitoring systems more time to develop alongside new model capabilities.
International coordination would also seek to prevent countries from accelerating development because they fear losing a technological advantage.
Trump says restrictions would benefit China
Trump argues that limiting American AI development would allow China to overtake the United States.
“There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China,” Trump said.
The president has consistently emphasized maintaining American leadership in AI and expanding the infrastructure required to support it.
His approach follows a broader governing philosophy associated with his 2016 statement, “I alone can fix it.”
Trump revoked an AI oversight executive order issued by former President Joe Biden after returning to office. His administration issued a more extensive order of its own more than 16 months later, in June.
Regulation differs across major markets
Governments have adopted different approaches to managing AI risks.
The European Union’s AI Act includes oversight and enforcement powers for general-purpose AI models. European authorities can request technical documents, evaluate models, require corrective action and impose penalties for violations.
The EU is also expanding its capacity for independent model testing and cybersecurity evaluations.
The Trump administration has generally favored fewer restrictions, emphasizing technological growth and competition with China.
The policy debate involves not only whether AI should be regulated but also which systems should be covered, who should conduct safety tests and whether rules should be imposed nationally or coordinated internationally.
AI stocks react to slowdown discussion
The possibility of slower AI development contributed to declines in technology stocks Monday.
Investors considered whether a slowdown would reduce demand for sophisticated computer chips, electricity, construction materials and other resources used to build data centers.
Nvidia and several other companies connected to the AI expansion declined during morning trading.
Broader concerns about high valuations had already put pressure on some AI stocks before executives intensified their safety warnings.
Data centers become a political issue
Trump’s criticism of regulation comes as AI infrastructure has become politically controversial ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The construction of data centers has contributed significantly to investment and economic growth during Trump’s second term. The administration expects AI to increase productivity and support future expansion.
However, communities have raised concerns about data centers consuming large quantities of electricity and water, occupying farmland and increasing utility bills.
Voters have also expressed anxiety that AI could eliminate jobs or undermine children’s education.
Those concerns have prompted candidates from both political parties to reconsider unqualified support for additional data-center construction.
Emanuel criticizes Trump’s response
Rahm Emanuel, a former Chicago mayor, Democratic congressman and White House chief of staff, criticized the president’s handling of the warnings.
Emanuel said Amodei’s essay was “an admission that we’re driving down a dark, winding road on wet pavement with the headlights off. And where’s President Trump? Looks like he nodded off again. It’s time to turn the lights on, put both hands on the wheel, and regain control before it’s too late.”
His remarks represent a Democratic political criticism of the administration’s AI policy.
Trump and other administration officials contend that their approach considers safety while avoiding regulations that could harm innovation or give China an advantage.
Trump warns against harming a growth industry
In a separate post Monday, Trump said the warnings were emerging because “the United States is leading, by a lot, every other country. Don’t kill the Golden Goose!”
The administration views AI investment as a major source of economic growth.
Technology companies have committed large amounts of money to computer chips, electricity generation, data centers and related construction projects.
The White House expects those investments to generate productivity improvements, although uncertainty remains about employment displacement, energy costs and the profitability of the infrastructure buildout.
Vance tells Americans not to be afraid
Vice President JD Vance also downplayed public fears while saying the administration takes potential AI risks seriously.
“I don’t think Americans should be scared of anything,” Vance told reporters Monday morning.
Vance made the remarks as he prepared to travel to Kansas for a midterm campaign event.
He said the United States is engaged in an AI competition with China and argued that any regulation must account for its effect on American innovation.
Vance questions companies’ motives
Vance expressed skepticism about large AI companies asking the government to regulate their industry.
“Personally, I feel a little bit weird about the fact that you have so many frontier AI tech companies kind of coming to the government and begging the government to regulate them. It feels a little bit to me like a bit of a Trojan horse,” Vance said. “So, I think we just have to be careful about this.”
The disagreement leaves Washington confronting several unresolved questions: whether voluntary company safeguards are sufficient, whether binding national standards are necessary and how the United States can coordinate with other countries without surrendering a competitive advantage.
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