Trump Rejects AI Slowdown Calls, Shifts Safety Responsibility to CEOs

On Sunday, President Donald Trump dismissed appeals from top AI leaders to decelerate AI model building, stating that holding back would cede the advantage to China in a contest the U.S. has to prevail in.

Mike Johnson, the House Speaker, and David Sacks, the ex-White House AI advisor, each presented similar reasoning. The discussion around AI safety shifted into a rivalry with China.

Congress Hands AI Safety to the Developers

In an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Johnson stated that Congress has already put protective measures in place. The responsibility now falls on the AI labs themselves.

“…there is an obvious corporate responsibility that the people who are creating these models have to ensure that their products are safe.”

His comments came one day after Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI called for a deceleration in AI development. There is no federal regulation that requires any of these companies to comply.

Sacks instructed the three CEOs to cease seeking authorization. He contended that their cautious approach also has a business dimension, given that a severe cyber incident could lead to liability lawsuits.

Dario has written that we need to “pace the frontier,” and Sam has agreed. People may be surprised by my response: go ahead.

You guys are the frontier. By any reasonable metric — market share, revenue growth, model capability — the two of you have a duopoly on frontier…

— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) September 13, 2026

The China Argument Broke on Sunday

David Sacks stated that China would never agree to any international pact.

“China is very unlikely to join a global agreement, as you know, and that has to be taken into account as well,” he said.

In other developments, Chinese President Xi Jinping advocated for a “consensus-based global AI governance framework” during the BRICS summit held in New Delhi. Additionally, he committed to establishing a BRICS AI open source community.

Closing his historic India visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged open-source AI models, LLM development, and tech training to BRICS nations. This bold initiative directly challenges Western dominance, positioning China as the core technology driver for the Global South.

— China pulse 🇨🇳 (@Eng_china5) September 13, 2026

BRICS is a group of 11 countries, with China, India, and Russia as its leading members.

Separately, Senator Bernie Sanders has called for a complete halt and seeks a pact with Xi. Trump is scheduled to meet with Sanders at the White House on September 24, and artificial intelligence will be a topic of discussion.

Amodei Is Not the Dove Washington Describes

Dario Amodei, the head of Anthropic, explained to CBS News that the most challenging aspect of his proposal is determining what happens if China does not comply.

“The more long-term thing would be working together to put a speed limit on the rate of of AI progress…I think that’s going to be very difficult because the incentives to pull ahead and the military advantage that you get from that are so large. And honestly, I don’t know if it’s possible,” Amodei explained.

In his essay, Amodei urges Washington to prohibit sales of advanced chips to China and to dismantle smuggling operations. He stated that a situation where China leads would present a serious threat.

The third step of his strategy requires governments to engage in negotiations with authoritarian regimes. This is exactly the step that Congress refused to take on Sunday.

According to Stanford’s 2026 AI Index, the U.S. lead over the top Chinese model was 2.7% as of March. Additionally, Chinese research organizations have faced allegations that they copied American AI models.

With just eleven days until Trump meets with Xi, the only individuals who can decelerate AI progress are those who are racing to develop it the fastest.