'Oblivion and bankruptcy': Trump escalates his fight against AI regulation

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump escalated his opposition to AI regulation on Monday, September 14, arguing industry calls for stricter rules could drive companies into “oblivion and bankruptcy.”

He also dismissed warnings that AI could destroy humanity as a “HOAX” and tied permitting concerns to the US competition with China.

Trump made the remarks in a series of Truth Social posts on Monday as AI leaders urged slower development and greater safeguards.

Trump says regulation could hurt AI growth

“Concerning AI, when, in the History of Business, did anyone see the Leaders of an Industry call for Regulation that, if strongly implemented, will drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy?” Trump wrote.

Trump said fears that AI could take over the world and destroy humanity were also a “HOAX,” comparing them with past controversies he has repeatedly described as hoaxes and scams.

He argued the United States already has enough authority over AI companies, writing, “We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies!”

Trump warned that regulation and permitting problems could push AI investment away from the United States. 

He cited Google’s reported plan to build a “massive Plant” in Finland, saying the company was doing so because it found permitting too difficult in the United States.

“I am not happy about this, and want them to change their thinking,” Trump wrote.

The president called AI and data centers the “Greatest Economic Development Engine in History,” bigger than oil, gold, diamonds, or the internet.

AI leaders are calling for a slower pace

Trump’s posts came after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a Saturday blog post titled “We Must Pace the Frontier,” arguing that slower AI development could reduce the risk that “something goes seriously wrong.”

Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned days earlier that the technology could “kill us all by the end of the decade,” while accusing OpenAI and Anthropic of “gambling with our lives,” according to CNBC.

OpenAI chief Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also said over the weekend that they agreed with calls for a slowdown.

White House AI czar David Sacks pushed back on Amodei’s warning on Saturday. 

“Stop pretending the motivation to slow down is purely altruistic,” Sacks wrote, arguing that companies face product-liability exposure if their products enable a damaging cyberattack.

Sacks also said the market already punishes models that behave unpredictably or without authorization and argued China would be “very unlikely” to join a global agreement regulating AI.

President Trump links AI regulation to China race

Trump has repeatedly framed AI development as a competition with China.

On Saturday, he said, “We’re leading China in AI.”

“And frankly, I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI wins,” he said.

In another Monday post, Trump said the reason for the AI and data center “outburst” was that the United States was leading other countries “by a lot.” 

He warned, “Don’t kill the Golden Goose!”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La, similarly argued Sunday that Congress should not rush to regulate the technology.

“If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose the race to China,” Johnson told CNN’s ‘State of the Union’.

Johnson said Congress should handle AI responsibly while avoiding rules that could “smother American innovation.”

Any attempt at AI regulation by Congress appeared unlikely before the November 3 midterm elections, with House members set to leave Washington Thursday and remain in their districts through October, as per CNBC.