Trump Says Additional AI Limitations Not Necessary

President Donald Trump has said that more artificial intelligence (AI) restrictions are unnecessary, pushing back on growing calls from lawmakers and AI company executives for new guardrails.

“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 wrote on Truth Social on Sept. 14.

“The Trump Administration has stopped AI ‘people’ from doing bad, or potentially bad, ‘things,’ like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel’ – and we will continue to do so! 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. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”

Anthropic, whose CEO is Dario Amodei, did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Amodei is among those who have called for rules limiting AI companies in response to recent growth in models.

Amodei said in an interview broadcast by CBS over the weekend that he had not “fully just appreciated what it would actually be like when the progress was as fast as it was” and that recent developments were “a warning sign that we need to slow down.”

In a blog post published on Monday, Amodei said that AI has powerful potential, including curing major diseases, but that it has risks, including enabling terrorists to build biological weapons.

He proposed three steps, including embedding third-party evaluators at each major AI company and having democratic governments such as the United States “attempt to coordinate with authoritarian governments, to the extent this is possible.”

Other executives, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have voiced support for slowing down AI development, and Microsoft just released a provisional code of conduct that would limit its own models.

Trump said on Sunday, while speaking to reporters in Ireland, that the United States is leading China in AI.

“We’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins,” he said.

Trump said that guardrails were an option, but that people were raising possibilities that would not happen.

Lawmakers have introduced various legislative proposals to address AI, including a proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to ban advanced AI systems. The bills have not been approved by the Senate or House of Representatives.