President Trump has downplayed the risks of AI and said he wants to maintain the US lead over China in emerging technologies.
Published September 13, 2026
US President Donald Trump has downplayed the need for his administration to rein in the development of artificial intelligence, saying he is concerned about ceding US leadership to China.
President Trump told reporters on Sunday during a visit to Ireland that he acknowledged the need for some restrictions, but gave no details about possible measures.
“You can put up guardrails, you can do this and that, but I think there are a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up…bringing up things that shouldn’t be brought up and shouldn’t happen,” Trump told reporters after watching the Irish Open at the resort of Doonbeg.
He said the United States is leading the way in AI development than China, saying, “Frankly, I would like to see it stay that way because whoever wins in AI wins.”
Trump’s comments came a day after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a blog post saying the AI industry needs to slow down the pace of technology improvements to allow time for guardrails.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman agreed with Amodei, adding that this has been a major topic of discussion at OpenAI in recent weeks. Elon Musk also publicly agreed with Amodei’s post.
The warning follows the public resignation of former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher Jacob Coxon, citing concerns about the potential for AI to surpass human control, with ripple effects across the industry and Washington.
Following Coxon’s resignation, several U.S. lawmakers have called for legislation to govern AI development, including Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who introduced a bipartisan House bill that would prevent AI from operating without human oversight.
Concerns about AI have become a major issue in the election cycle as computing warehouse construction explodes in many towns across the United States. There are growing concerns that new construction will reduce water supplies and increase electricity bills.
President Trump has maintained support for data centers despite their growing unpopularity among Americans.
David Sachs, a former White House AI czar and current co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, disputed the warnings of AI leaders, saying the industry sets the pace of development and could slow it on its own.
“Demanding the regulatory framework you want in return would look like a threat to the public and the political system, so you should just do it,” Sachs said.
