Trump's dismissal of AI safety concerns
President Trump spent several consecutive days in mid-September publicly dismissing warnings from AI industry leaders about the technology's dangers, calling safety fears a 'HOAX' comparable to 'the Global Warming Scam' and 'the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX,' and insisting 'the only control or guardrails that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.' The warnings had come from figures including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who published a blog post arguing the industry must slow its pace of development to allow time for safeguards -- a call publicly echoed by OpenAI's Sam Altman and Tesla/xAI's Elon Musk -- as well as former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher Jacob Coxon, who resigned publicly citing fears the industry was 'genuinely frightened' about AI surpassing human control, and Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark, who told the BBC the industry may need a mandatory third-party-checkable 'kill switch' for dangerous AI systems.
Follow this story on the globe
As it ran
15 September 2026
- Trump says AI safety fears a 'hoax' as he rejects calls for greater safeguards BBC News
- AI regulation faces political deadlock as calls grow for Congress to act BBC News
14 September 2026
- Some in Silicon Valley Are Questioning the Calls for an A.I. Slowdown New York Times
- Tech companies begging for regulation seems like 'Trojan horse,' Vance says Fox News
- In a Surprise Onstage Call With Nvidia’s C.E.O., Trump Called A.I. Fears a ‘Hoax’ New York Times
- Trump dismisses AI alarms as a ‘HOAX’ — worrying White House officials CNN
- Trump rages against ‘sick conspiracy’ targeting tech — reveals who he blames Fox News
- AI stocks slide after top industry CEOs call for slowdown of technology’s development CNN
- Trump dismisses AI alarms as a 'HOAX' — worrying White House officials CNN
- Trump dismisses AI alarms — worrying White House officials CNN
- Trump says calls for more control on AI are a ‘SICK conspiracy’ Al Jazeera
- Trump condemns ‘sick conspiracy’ against AI, says he is only guardrail needed South China Morning Post
- The president made clear he considers outpacing China on AI a higher priority than regulation CNN
- Trump dismisses calls for AI slowdown from leading tech CEOs Al Jazeera
13 September 2026
- Trump downplays AI risks after dire expert warnings and calls to slow development down BBC News
- Trump downplays warnings of AI risks, citing rivalry with China BBC News
- Political debate over AI intensifies amid warnings about ‘catastrophic risk’ CNN
- Questions mount over what an AI 'slowdown' would look like BBC News
- Trump downplays the need to check AI development and says he doesn't want to cede edge to China AP
- Trump downplays AI development checks, says unwilling to cede edge to China South China Morning Post