Donald Trump on Sunday played down warnings about artificial intelligence's risks, blaming unnamed "negative forces" and saying the United States must not lose its lead over China. He spoke during a weekend trip to Ireland, a day after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for the industry to slow development so safety measures could catch up, a call backed by 
Elon Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman.
What did the president say in Ireland? "We can put guardrails, we can do this and that, but I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that ... shouldn't be bringing it up, and they're bringing up things that won't happen," Trump told reporters. Asked whether the industry should slow down or be regulated, he said the US was leading China on AI and "frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins." Asked later whether he was minimising the risks, he said "I'm not downplaying," adding that AI is "going to be more good than bad, but by a lot."
How did he follow up on Monday? "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!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. He wrote that "there is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China," and in another post called AI safety fears a "hoax". He said his administration had already stopped Anthropic "from doing bad, or potentially bad" things. He accused Amodei of pretending to be a "perfect little angel" and of wrongdoing, without providing evidence, Decrypt reported.
What did the vice president say? 
J.D. Vance told reporters on Monday that "I don't think Americans should be scared of anything," saying the administration is concerned about AI but wants to regulate it smartly. Of frontier AI companies asking the government to regulate them, Vance said: "It feels a little bit to me like a bit of a Trojan horse."
What happens next? House Speaker Mike Johnson said AI needs "some guardrails" but warned against losing the US edge over China, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for "decisive action now." New safety legislation is unlikely soon, with the House set to recess at week's end until after the November midterms, the BBC reported. Johnson said Trump would soon hold a White House meeting with AI executives.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, J.D. Vance. — JudgeMarket.
