President Donald Trump stated on Monday, September 14, 2026, that existing executive powers are sufficient to oversee artificial intelligence (AI) and that further regulations are unnecessary. Writing on Truth Social, Trump described calls for a slowdown in AI development as a "SICK conspiracy" involving "Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers." He argued that the U.S. must prioritize maintaining its lead in AI technology over China.
These comments follow a Saturday essay by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who urged the industry to deliberately slow the pace of AI model capability improvements. Amodei warned that within six to 12 months, advanced AI agents could potentially take control of the internet using botnets, causing an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. Several industry leaders, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, and xAI’s Elon Musk, expressed support for slowing the "frontier" of development.
Trump specifically criticized Amodei, claiming the Trump administration has already used "tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power" to manage the industry. The president did not specify which actions he was referring to or identify the individuals he accused of conspiracy. Meanwhile, David Sacks, chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, recently told AI firms they should not seek antitrust waivers or formal government approval for a voluntary slowdown.
For investors and retirement account holders, these fluctuations represent concrete changes in market value as the industry weighs the costs of safety measures against the pressure for rapid innovation. The administration's stance suggests that companies attempting to coordinate a slowdown might face antitrust scrutiny rather than government support. If rival firms agree to restrain output without legal cover, they could be in violation of existing laws designed to prevent anti-competitive cooperation.
A voluntary slowdown could delay the introduction of new AI tools, potentially altering how quickly healthcare, education, and software sectors integrate next-generation models. The next steps involve ongoing Senate inquiries into a recent "rogue-agent incident" involving OpenAI and Hugging Face. Additionally, Anthropic has stated it will begin giving outside evaluators access to its safety procedures, a move it has invited its competitors to match. As of Monday, the administration has not detailed any new specific legal actions against the companies.