Donald Trump has rejected calls for tighter artificial intelligence regulation, insisting that existing criminal and regulatory powers are sufficient and that the industry needs a “STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT”.
The US president made the comments in a series of posts on Truth Social, dismissing warnings that increasingly capable AI systems could pose grave risks. He described claims that AI could take over or destroy humanity as a “HOAX”.
Mr Trump also criticised Dario Amodei, co-founder and chief executive of Anthropic, whose Claude system is one of the major AI models. He said his administration had stopped people in the industry from doing “bad, or potentially bad, ‘things’” and would continue to do so.
“We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies!” Mr Trump wrote, adding that a “SICK conspiracy” was under way against AI and data centres. He said China would benefit from any attempt to impede development, declaring: “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”
The president’s position comes as Mr Amodei, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk have called for a significant slowdown in AI development. Democrats and an increasing number of Republicans have also voiced concerns about the rapid progress of large language models.
Vice President JD Vance warned that technology companies asking to be regulated could have ulterior motives. “There are obviously risks to AI,” he told reporters, adding that it felt like “a bit of a Trojan horse” for frontier AI firms to come to the government and ask for regulation.
Mr Amodei said in an interview last week that the dangers posed by AI were real and that the industry had for too long failed to be open about them. “I won’t lie to you — there are real dangers,” he said.
The president signed an executive order in December aimed at easing AI regulations, although it is not clear which criminal and regulatory rules he was referring to in his posts.
Steve Bannon, Senator Bernie Sanders and lawmakers from both main parties are due to attend the Pro-Human Assembly in Washington on Tuesday, where speakers will discuss the need to ensure AI serves people rather than the other way around.
Significant or immediate action by Congress appears unlikely, however, after the legislature made little progress on major legislation in 2026.
