“We lead China in artificial intelligence. We are the most advanced country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins in artificial intelligence wins,” Trump said Sunday. | Photo credit: Seth Wenig
President Donald Trump played down growing concerns about the risks posed by artificial intelligence after some industry leaders called for a slowdown in the technology’s progress.
“We lead China in artificial intelligence. We are the most advanced country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins in artificial intelligence wins,” Trump told reporters on Sunday on the sidelines of the Irish Open. “And we can put up barriers. We can do this and that. But I think you have a lot of negative forces that are raising this issue that shouldn’t be raising this issue.”
Anthropic PBC Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei published a lengthy blog post on Saturday calling on the industry to slow down and saying the effort requires industry and global coordination. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who runs xAI, were quick to echo Amodei’s message.
Specifically, Amodei said his company would implement new security measures such as third-party appraisers, and Altman also said he would follow that idea.
But there are questions about how seriously AI leaders will take slowing down the pace of development of their most advanced and most profitable models.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Sunday that Amodei’s proposal for additional AI safeguards could serve as a model for the private sector, including by allowing independent observers access to the models.
Speaking on Fox News on Sunday, Hassett called AI safety a “solvable problem.” He said AI is evolving fast enough to potentially overcome existing cybersecurity defenses, but companies are also developing new defenses.
“If you look at the movement that the private sector is making, the fact that the Elon and OpenAI people have already supported the really pretty smart steps that Dario is advising, I think it’s a good move forward, a good step forward,” Hassett said, adding that Trump administration officials Sean Cairncross and Michael Kratsios are also looking into the issue.
The surge in security concerns surrounding AI coincides with a growing backlash against the technology in the U.S., fueled in part by objections to the strain on local resources created by the new data centers needed to support the technology. Concerns that artificial intelligence is driving up energy bills and potentially costing jobs made it a central issue in the November midterm elections.
Another factor influencing the market is whether the huge sums invested in artificial intelligence and related infrastructure will pay off. The review found high-value stocks tied to the technology to be particularly vulnerable, with signs of rising costs or declining profitability triggering sell-offs.
“They’re raising issues that won’t happen, but whoever wins with AI will win,” Trump said.
Published September 13, 2026