Trump says he alone is the AI 'guardrail,' rejects new regulation
After Anthropic, OpenAI and Musk called for slowing AI development, Trump said only "a STRONG AND SMART president" is needed, not new rules.
What happened: President Trump on Truth Social dismissed calls from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk to slow down AI development over safety fears. Trump said the only guardrail AI needs is "a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) president," mocked Amodei as "pretending to be a perfect little angel," and claimed his administration already has "tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power" over AI companies, without specifying what that power is.
Why it matters: This is a rare moment where the people building the most powerful AI systems are publicly asking for outside limits, and the U.S. government is publicly refusing. Amodei wrote plainly that "there are real dangers" and that the industry "lied to people" about risks for too long. A former Anthropic researcher went further, saying insiders privately fear AI could be catastrophic within the decade. Meanwhile Congress is on recess through October, so no legislation is coming soon.
How it works, plainly: Trump's argument is that competition with China, not new rules, is the real safety mechanism: slowing down U.S. companies just helps China win, so nothing should be added on top of existing law. Vice President Vance echoed skepticism, calling AI firms asking for regulation a possible "Trojan horse." AI czar David Sacks said companies should just self-regulate, pointing to product-liability lawsuits as the real deterrent, not government rules.
The rollout: House Speaker Mike Johnson said Congress won't rush emergency AI legislation, warning that regulating too fast risks "losing the race to China." With no bill moving before the November midterms, the practical result is that AI safety decisions stay with the companies themselves, at least for now. A Washington gathering this week, drawing figures from Steve Bannon to Bernie Sanders, shows political interest in AI risk crossing party lines even without action.