President Donald Trump said Monday that his presidency is the only regulation needed for artificial intelligence, doubling down on previous statements that the United States needs to rush to develop advanced AI tools to beat China at what he sees as an existential competition.
“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!” the president posted on Truth Social. “We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China.”
He also said the push to regulate AI was a “hoax” equivalent to the twin impeachment efforts during his first term as president, and urged tech leaders to change their minds on the issue.
“AI, and Data Centers, will be the Greatest Economic Development Engine in History — Bigger than Oil, Gold, Diamonds, or even the Internet. It will not be stopped by brilliantly run Destructive Forces during the Term of President DONALD J. TRUMP!” the post read.
Trending
The comments follow Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s calls over the weekend to slow down AI development until proper safety measures catch up with the fast growing autonomous systems. Without such measures, Amodei warned that AI “could be capable of taking over the entire internet” within six to 12 months.
Other tech leaders, including Elon Musk and Open AI CEO Sam Altman, have also called for greater caution.
But the Trump administration is not backing down from what it considers a national security issue and an economic competition with China. Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Monday that the administration was “thoughtful” about the risks of AI, while downplaying industry concerns.
“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,” Vance said. “It feels a little bit to me like a bit of a Trojan horse.”
Concerns over AI regulation and data centers have also become a central issue on the campaign trail ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The president has staunchly defended data centers despite growing voter opposition to projects that residents fear could drive up electricity costs, consume large amounts of water and reshape their communities.
That backlash has already led to projects being rejected or withdrawn in states including Ohio, Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, while state and local officials across the country have moved toward moratoriums, tighter regulations and changes to tax incentives for the industry.
Author
