President Donald Trump stated on Monday that the United States already possesses protective measures for regulating and sanctioning artificial intelligence (AI) companies, seemingly downplaying the concerns voiced over the weekend by industry leaders regarding potential misuse of AI, according to reports.
“The only control or ‘protective mechanism’ needed for artificial intelligence is a strong and intelligent president (with a high IQ!), and the U.S. has that in abundance!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
He further claimed that China would benefit if U.S. efforts to develop AI were questioned.
“We already have extraordinary powers in criminal and regulatory matters concerning these companies! A sick conspiracy theory is spreading against AI and data centers, and the only one benefiting from it is China,” Trump added.
Shares of companies in the AI sector experienced a significant decline on Monday after leaders from some of the largest firms in the industry called for a slowdown in the pace of AI development.
This drop followed weeks of reports detailing incidents where AI agents acted against their operators’ instructions to access external systems.
Meanwhile, several leading AI safety researchers have left their positions, warning that the rapid advancement of the technology could lead to the extinction of humanity in the not-so-distant future.
On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei proposed a three-step framework to slow down AI development and allow more time for managing associated risks. This proposal was quickly endorsed by several executives from major AI companies, including Elon Musk, CEO of xAI, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.
