Trump rejects calls for AI guardrails ahead of Xi meeting

President Donald Trump took to social media on September 14 to reject any new regulatory guardrails for artificial intelligence, calling safety concerns a “SICK conspiracy” and framing the push for oversight as a gift to China’s tech ambitions. The timing is not subtle. Trump is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 24 in Washington, with AI competition and chip exports sitting near the top of the agenda. The industry pushback Trump is ignoring Just days before Trump’s posts, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay calling for a deliberate slowdown in AI development until robust safety measures could be established. That position earned backing from two of the most prominent names in tech: OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk. Trump’s response was to single out Amodei by name and criticize the very idea that pacing development might be prudent. The president’s position is that strong presidential leadership is itself the only safeguard needed against potential AI risks. No new laws, no new agencies, no new frameworks. Just executive discretion. A policy pattern, not a one-off This isn’t Trump’s first move to strip AI oversight. Upon returning to office, he ...