Trump rejects AI CEOs’ calls to slow development, citing China race

President Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed a rare joint call from the heads of the nation's three leading artificial intelligence companies to slow the pace of AI development, framing the technology as a competitive race the United States cannot afford to lose.

"We're 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," Trump told reporters during a visit to his golf resort in Doonbeg, Ireland. He blamed "negative forces" for overstating the technology's risks, saying "they're bringing up things that won't happen."indiatoday+2

Trump's remarks were his first public response to a coordinated moment Saturday when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and xAI founder Elon Musk Tesla, Inc. ↗ 0.52% all backed slowing AI development. Amodei published a 3,800-word essay titled "We Must Pace the Frontier," warning that "swarms of rogue AI agents could take over the internet in as little as six months." Altman wrote on X that he agreed, while Musk responded simply: "Dario is right."yahoo+2

Safety Fears Behind the Call

The CEO consensus followed a turbulent stretch for the industry. Anthropic on Thursday released a threat intelligence report detailing misuse of its Claude chatbot, including the creation of thousands of fake dating profiles, biological weapons research attempts, and mass data extraction by seven Chinese AI labs. Days earlier, former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned publicly, accusing both Anthropic and OpenAI of "gambling with our lives" in the race toward superhuman systems.bbc+2

Amodei proposed a three-part plan: embedding independent monitors with employee-level access inside frontier AI labs, establishing industry-wide safety standards, and pursuing international coordination. Altman committed OpenAI to the same monitoring framework, calling it "a great idea." Altman also told Fortune that OpenAI had postponed its planned initial public offering, saying "right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public."bbc+1

Washington Divided

House Speaker Mike Johnson echoed Trump's competitive framing but signaled openness to action, calling for "one big meeting" with AI executives, potentially as soon as Monday. "We don't need everybody to panic right now," he said on CNN. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries countered that Congress should reconvene immediately, calling the Republican approach "deeply dangerous."finance.yahoo+1

Former Trump adviser David Sacks endorsed the idea of a voluntary slowdown but rejected the industry leaders' framing, accusing Amodei and Altman of seeking regulatory capture. "The easiest way not to build superintelligence is for you to agree not to build it," Sacks wrote on X. Palantir ↗ 0.83% CEO Alex Karp pushed back more bluntly, telling CNBC Comcast Corporation ↗ 0.12% that pausing was unrealistic given geopolitical rivals.washingtonexaminer

Markets braced for turbulence. Tech investor Jason Calacanis predicted AI stocks would drop sharply Monday, writing on X: "Brace for impact folks." Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to visit the United States later in September for talks with Trump, with AI expected to be on the agenda.indiatoday+1