Trump and Johnson reject AI slowdown, citing China race

September 14, 2026 at 12:41 AM1 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed calls from top AI executives to slow AI development. Trump said the US is leading China in AI and wants to keep it that way. Johnson warned that emergency AI regulation could cost the US the race to China.

Key Facts

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an open letter on September 12, 2026, calling to "pace the frontier" and slow AI development.
OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk publicly voiced support for Amodei's proposal on X.
Alphabet's Demis Hassabis offered tentative support for Amodei's proposal.
Trump told the Financial Times, "whoever wins AI, wins."
Johnson told CNN's Jake Tapper that emergency AI regulation could be a "national security threat."

AI Executives' Call

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a lengthy open letter on September 12, 2026, saying it was time to "pace the frontier" and slow down AI development. OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk publicly voiced their support for Amodei's proposal on X. Alphabet's Demis Hassabis offered tentative support for Amodei's proposal.

Republican Opposition

Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed the AI executives' concerns as overreactive. Trump told the Financial Times, "Look, we're leading China in AI ... and, frankly, I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI, wins." Johnson told CNN's Jake Tapper that rushing to place restrictions on AI development could be a "national security threat." Johnson urged people not to panic, saying, "If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try and regulate AI, we will lose the race to China."