President Donald Trump is downplaying the need for new guardrails on artificial intelligence, pushing back against some of the technology’s most prominent leaders who are calling for greater government oversight as AI systems rapidly become more powerful.
“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 in a social media post on Monday.
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Trump said the federal government already has “tremendous criminal and regulatory power” over AI companies. He also argued that additional restrictions could jeopardize how the United States competes in the field, especially against China.
“WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!” Trump wrote.
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The comments come amid a growing debate within the AI industry over whether development is moving faster than companies and governments can safely manage. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have both recently called for additional safeguards, including government involvement and independent oversight.
“No amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness, or let capabilities get ahead of alignment and monitoring,” Altman stated in a post on X Sunday night.
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