US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday Sept. 18, 2026, in Washington. Picture: AP /Jacquelyn Martin.Mr Trump claimed liberals who have expressed growing concerns over AI and dire safety warnings from AI industry leaders really just want the “decimation, or destruction, of AI.” “I, as President of the United States, will not stand by and let this happen,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday local time.“We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry. Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!” Mr Trump continued, adding that he was creating an “AI Force” that would be tasked with “looking for BAD” actors, and would soon announce an AI co-ordinator or “Czar.” Mr Trump compared skepticism over AI to a series of other events he has branded hoaxes.“Over the years, there have been many Hoaxes, all generated by the Radical Left Dumocrats, for purposes of destroying our Country,” he posted Saturday local time on Truth Social. “RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, Global Warming, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everyone, and now, the decimation, or destruction, of AI, commonly known as Artificial Intelligence — And I, as President of the United States, will not stand by and let this happen.”Mr Trump’s latest defence of artificial intelligence came even though polls show Americans are largely opposed to allowing the energy-guzzling data centres that are the engines of AI to be built in their communities - especialy while the war against Iran drags on and citizens grapple with the inflation it has fuelled.Surveys suggest his Republican Party could lose control of the House and perhaps the Senate in November’s midterm elections.Mr Trump is also firmly embracing the technology despite widespread warnings, even from top industry leaders, that AI development is going too fast and the technology could soon threaten our survival as ever-smarter AI agents escape the control of their human designers. Jacob Coxon, a former AI researcher who worked at Anthropic before resigning, set off the latest round of alarm by describing how those building the technology “earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” Mr Trump has repeatedly dismissed all the doomsday talk, calling it a “hoax”.The president said the US could not afford to lose a technological race with rival China and he insisted the only guardrails necessary were a “STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” In another social media post on Saturday, Mr Trump mused on whether artificial intelligence is an accurate term, offered three alternatives in what he called a poll, and asked people to weigh in. The three are superior intelligence, extreme intelligence and supreme intelligence, Mr Trump wrote. “This is a Poll, and I would appreciate everybody voting! Which is the best name for this ever growing “Revolution?”With AFP