Donald Trump claims 'sick conspiracy' against AI is helping China, rejects calls for regulationBy Brad Ryan in Washington DCTopic:World PoliticsPosted Tue 15 Sep 2026 at 3:27amTue 15 Sep 2026 at 3:27amTue 15 Sep 2026 at 3:27am, updated Tue 15 Sep 2026 at 5:40amTue 15 Sep 2026 at 5:40amTue 15 Sep 2026 at 5:40amDonald Trump argues the US needs to stay ahead of China in the AI race. (Reuters: Evan Vucci)Donald Trump has aggressively pushed back on calls to regulate AI development in the US, claiming there is a "sick conspiracy" against the technology.Pressure is building in Washington for urgent action to rein in AI's rapid development after a flurry of dire warnings from industry leaders.But the US president has used social media to say the "only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT".In a series of posts over several hours, Mr Trump suggested regulating AI would only help China get ahead of the US, and warnings about its dangers represented a hoax.He also criticised Dario Amodei, the CEO of AI giant Anthropic, who published an essay about AI's dangers over the weekend. Mr Trump said his administration had stopped him from doing "bad, or potentially bad" things."We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies!" Mr Trump wrote."There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China."In a later post, he questioned why industry leaders were calling for regulation that would "drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy" and said: "AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX."On Saturday, Mr Amodei published an essay outlining a three-step proposal to safely "pace" AI development while systems were developed to manage its risk. It would include embedding independent evaluators inside AI companies to monitor their work.Mr Amodei's rivals, xAI's Elon Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman, quickly endorsed the proposal.It followed AI researcher Jacob Coxon's decision last week to quit his job with Anthropic and issue a sensational public warning that AI could lead to human extinction.Emerging election issueMr Trump did not elaborate on his "conspiracy" claim or specify what "bad things" his administration had prevented Mr Amodei from doing.But the US government and Anthropic clashed earlier this year after the company asked for guarantees that the defence department would not use Anthropic's AI for fully autonomous weapons or for mass domestic surveillance.Mr Trump subsequently said he was ordering federal agencies to stop working with Anthropic, and the Pentagon declared it a supply-chain risk.AI is emerging as a major election issue ahead of the US's midterms in November, when voters will determine which party controls Congress for the second half of Mr Trump's presidency.Polls show growing concerns over the construction of data centres in American communities as well as a range of risks posed by the technology.But both major parties lack coherent policy platforms on the issue. In some local midterms races, each party is attempting to portray the other as the pro-AI option.An AI safety bill, backed by Republican Senate Leader John Thune and Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar, has some bipartisan support, but its details are still being negotiated.Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has become one of Congress's most vocal agitators for AI regulation.He and Democratic congressman Greg Casar have proposed tougher legislation to ban AI systems that surpass human intelligence and pause advanced AI development until a regulatory body is set up.Meaningful action in Congress before the midterms appears unlikely. The House of Representatives is scheduled to break at the end of this week, and will not resume until after the November elections. The Senate is due to break two weeks later.