Don't expect any slowdown in the development of AI
Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have pushed back against calls to slow AI development, arguing that the US needs to keep moving quickly if it wants to stay ahead of China.
The comments come after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an open letter calling for the industry to "pace the frontier" and ease off on the speed of AI progress. That view has already drawn support from OpenAI's Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and, more cautiously, Alphabet's Demis Hassabis.
But Trump and Johnson appear unconvinced. According to the Financial Times, Trump said the US is already leading China in AI and wants to keep it that way, adding that "whoever wins AI, wins."
Johnson made a similar case on CNN, telling Jake Tapper that moving too quickly to impose restrictions could become a "national security threat." He warned against panic and said that if Congress rushes into emergency regulation, the US could lose the race to China.
The broader debate here is clear: some leaders in AI want a slowdown to reduce risk, while Trump and Johnson see that as a dangerous pause that could hand strategic advantage to China.