President Donald Trump said on September 16, 2026 that the United States must speed up artificial‑intelligence research and reject calls to pause the technology, asserting that America already leads China in AI and that a slowdown would jeopardize national security.
The president’s remarks came after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly advocated for a slowdown or regulatory pause on frontier AI models. Trump countered that such caution would hand an advantage to China, which he described as pursuing AI aggressively and without restraint.
Trump called the AI revolution "profoundly positive," likening its impact to the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment. He argued that accelerating AI development will drive economic growth, bolster the U.S. military, and safeguard the nation’s moral and constitutional values.
The administration’s stance emphasizes that AI safety mechanisms, such as kill switches, must be built into systems, but that these safeguards should not delay progress. According to the president, maintaining U.S. dominance is essential because China’s rapid AI advances could enable cyber‑espionage, autonomous weaponry, and unchecked influence over global markets.
Critics who favor a pause warn of unknown risks, yet Trump maintained that the United States cannot afford to “trust in the morality of the CCP.” He warned that a lag in AI would allow China to “blind U.S. military communications” and launch AI‑driven attacks at machine speed, compromising both defense and critical infrastructure.
In the economic realm, the president highlighted AI’s potential to address labor shortages, boost GDP growth by four to five percent annually, and spur innovation in robotics and data‑center capacity. He urged Congress to back massive investment in semiconductors, data centers, and energy infrastructure to keep the nation at the forefront.
Trump’s position reflects a broader view that free‑market competition, rather than heavy government regulation, is the best path to responsible AI development. He cautioned that giving regulators control over AI could become a “Trojan horse” for techno‑socialist policies that undermine American liberty.
The administration plans to continue promoting policies that accelerate AI research while integrating safety measures, signaling that the next steps will focus on legislation supporting infrastructure and industry growth rather than imposing a development halt.