President Donald Trump stated on September 14, 2026, that he would serve as an adequate guardrail against rogue artificial intelligence, labeling calls for increased government oversight as part of a "sick conspiracy." Trump's comments were made in response to tech leaders, including Anthropic's Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman, and Elon Musk, who have advocated for greater regulation of AI to ensure its safe development and address legal liabilities.
Trump asserted that his leadership in the Oval Office should alleviate concerns regarding AI, which has faced scrutiny following recent hacks that demonstrated the potential for AI agents to deceive humans. He stated, "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!"
He also mentioned that his administration had intervened to prevent Anthropic from engaging in potentially harmful activities. Anthropic has had a contentious relationship with the Trump administration, with the Pentagon labeling its models as security risks and imposing a temporary ban on one of its advanced models.
In contrast, Amodei published a lengthy essay advocating for a slower pace of AI development, while Microsoft released a code of conduct aimed at ensuring human oversight of AI technologies. Trump criticized these regulatory efforts, arguing that they could allow China to surpass the U.S. in AI capabilities, stating, "There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China."