Trump says US has tools to keep AI safe, concerns are part of ‘sick conspiracy’

US President Donald Trump has resisted stirring concerns about AI and has largely embraced AI firms in his second term.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said on Nov 14 that the US already has guardrails in place to regulate and prosecute AI companies, appearing to play down concerns expressed by industry leaders over the weekend about misuse of artificial intelligence.

“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 wrote on Truth Social, adding that China would benefit from the doubt being cast on artificial intelligence development.

“We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China.”

Public concerns about the potential harm from AI grew in the US after two Anthropic researchers issued warnings last week that the rapidly progressing technology could lead to the extinction of the human race ‌in the not-too-distant future.

On Sept 12, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei outlined a three-step framework intended to pace development and create more time to manage its risks. The proposal was immediately endorsed by several other executives at major AI companies, including Elon Musk, who runs xAI, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Altman also said the company would not proceed with an IPO in 2026, citing safety concerns.

AI-linked stocks plunged across the globe on Sept 14 after AI corporate leaders warned of risks from rapid development, the starkest threat yet to the billions of dollars being poured into the industry that have pushed world markets to record highs.

The sell-off rippled through the industry, where companies are increasingly relying on debt and circular financing to fund ambitious AI spending plans even as global borrowing costs, reflected in multi-year-high bond yields, continue to rise.

Wall Street’s elite tech index, the Nasdaq 100, slid 1.7 per cent in early trading as chip stocks, which have led the AI sugar rush, fell the most.

“If this does lead to sort of a slowdown and a rethink of AI spending, that will have ramifications for the economy and some important sectors of the stock market because essentially, we’ve been running hot based on AI spending,” said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers.

The decline followed weeks of reports of AI agents acting against their operators’ instructions to access external systems, as well as the departure of prominent AI safety researchers.

Alarm about the potential danger from AI spiked earlier in September when Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned, stating that the “people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade”.

Trump said the tools intended to keep AI safe had already been used on Amodei.

“The Trump Administration has stopped AI ‘people’ from doing bad, or potentially bad, ‘things’, like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel’ – and we will continue to do so,” he said.

Trump has resisted stirring concerns about AI and has largely embraced AI firms in his second term.

He is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in Washington. Reuters previously reported that the two countries were planning a separate meeting in mid-September to discuss the risks of AI, led by lower-level government officials. REUTERS