(CNN) - On Monday, US President Donald Trump almost categorically rejected calls from leaders in the artificial intelligence sector to impose more government regulations on their advanced models, explaining that he considered “outperforming China a top priority that outweighs the importance of addressing growing public concerns.”
In a social media post, Trump confirmed the existence of a “malicious conspiracy” aimed at undermining artificial intelligence, and claimed that his personal oversight “alone is sufficient to prevent these models from spiraling out of control.” In another post the same afternoon, he described those concerns as a “hoax.”
In contrast, others within his administration - including his deputy, J.D. Vance - questioned the motives that led executives, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, to demand more government oversight.
This position put the White House at odds with growing public skepticism toward artificial intelligence, and put Republicans at risk of losing their seats in a difficult position as they seek to prove to voters that they take these concerns seriously.
Even some White House officials privately express concern about Trump's apparent indifference to the dangers of artificial intelligence; This is a position he has been adopting for months and has not changed despite numerous warnings from those working in this field.
For 4 consecutive days, Trump continued to downplay the importance of implementing new safety measures, stating on Monday that the United States already has “tremendous power - both criminal and regulatory - over these companies.”
“The only oversight or protections that AI needs is a strong, intelligent president with a high IQ, and the United States has that par excellence,” Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social, where he regularly posts photos and videos of himself generated by artificial intelligence.
He stated that his administration has already banned AI companies from doing “bad or potentially bad things,” and singled out Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, accusing him of “now pretending to be an innocent, perfect angel.”
Trump has long touted the benefits of artificial intelligence, and many industry leaders have contributed financially to some of his priority projects, including his inauguration fund and the ballroom he is building at the White House.
The explosive and rapid growth of artificial intelligence has also led to significant gains in the stock market and supported the manufacturing sector through the construction of data centers. These are things that Trump refers to as evidence of the strength of the economy during his reign.
He described artificial intelligence as "the hen that lays the golden egg" in another post on social media, Monday. However, concerns about the technology's ability to eliminate jobs, and the impact of artificial intelligence data centers on local communities, have led to a decline in positive public opinion towards it, and recent warnings regarding security risks have contributed to strengthening calls for new regulatory controls.
Vance questioned the motives of industry executives calling for more regulation of artificial intelligence, warning that it could be a "Trojan horse" used by companies that might benefit from the new restrictions.
“There are obvious risks to artificial intelligence, and there are some benefits as well, and I have to say that I feel a little weird about the fact that so many leading AI companies are coming to the government and begging them to regulate them,” Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews.
However, Vance acknowledged that the new technology entails risks, and expressed his hope that the White House and Congress would cooperate to establish regulatory controls.
“I don't think Americans should be afraid of anything,” Vance said. “I think we should realize that there are risks and downsides to anything, and that certainly applies to artificial intelligence.”
White House officials said that meetings will likely be held this week with administration experts specializing in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity to discuss possible new regulations for this technology.
For his part, House Speaker Mike Johnson - in statements he made on Sunday - expressed his hope that talks would be held that would include Trump, lawmakers, and executives of artificial intelligence companies to chart a path forward. He indicated on Monday that the meeting might be held within a week or two, but warned against rushing to take legislative measures.
“There will be a careful discussion about companies' responsibility to maintain safety, and what role, if any, the government might play in this regard,” he said. “But again, we don't want to rush it. Legislatures often automatically tend to overwhelm things with red tape and excessive regulations. If we do that, we lose our competitive advantage, and that is a national security concern for the American people.”
New efforts are underway among US officials to enhance scheduled discussions on artificial intelligence with Chinese President Xi Jinping, coinciding with his expected official visit to Washington next week.
Trump has been enthusiastically preparing for the occasion, including completing renovations on the North Lawn and constructing a new helipad on the South Lawn. In one of his social media posts Monday, Trump claimed that Xi "declared that China will do absolutely nothing to stand in the way of artificial intelligence or its future."
When the two men last met in Beijing in May, they discussed regulations for artificial intelligence but achieved only limited results. Last week, China's Ministry of Commerce said the two leaders had agreed to launch a joint government dialogue on artificial intelligence.
