Trump unloads on tech titans pushing for slowdown on emerging industry: ‘WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!’

President Donald Trump on Monday rejected growing calls for implementing safeguards and restrictions on artificial intelligence (AI), declaring that the technology needs a "STRONG AND SMART" president rather than additional restraints.

Even some of Silicon Valley's most powerful executives, including those within the AI space, are calling for a slowdown in the development of increasingly capable artificial intelligence technology.

"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.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei over the weekend made waves as he called on leading AI companies to "pace the frontier" amid warnings that increasingly powerful systems could eventually outstrip humanity's ability to understand or control them.

MIKE JOHNSON REJECTS AI MORATORIUM OVER CHINA THREAT AS CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST DEMANDS GUARDRAILS "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!" the president wrote on Truth Social.

Previously, the Trump administration designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk and moved to restrict federal agencies from using its technology, though a federal judge temporarily blocked that designation last month.

Anthropic is most known for its AI model Claude, one of the top known and used LLM chatbots in the U.S.

Trump argues that the federal government already has "tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies" and warned that additional restraints on American AI development could benefit China in the AI race.

"There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China," he wrote.

"WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so." FETTERMAN ALIGNS WITH TRUMP ON AI PUSH, WARNS CHINA BENEFITS FROM US 'OVERREACTION' Trump's intervention escalated a rapidly widening debate over whether America's leading AI companies should voluntarily slow the development of their most powerful systems — and what role Washington should play in policing an industry racing against both domestic competitors and China.

Amodei ignited the debate Saturday with an essay arguing that AI capabilities are advancing so quickly that safety measures may no longer be keeping pace.

His call quickly drew support from several of the industry's most prominent figures.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he agreed that companies need to "pace the frontier," while Elon Musk said Amodei was "right." Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis also said Amodei's proposal pointed in the right direction.