US President Donald Trump has this week made multiple posts on Truth Social aggressively defending the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, stating that "The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT." This comes as public support for AI reportedly sinks to some of the lowest levels ever recorded.
Trump's sons, through a series of AI-linked defence and technology ventures, have secured a $620m Pentagon loan, a Marine Corps robotics contract, and an undisclosed air force drone deal in the past year. His longtime friend Michael Dell also won a Pentagon contract worth nearly $9bn. Democratic lawmakers and government ethics watchdogs are scrutinising the overlap between these financial interests and Trump's policy stance, though it is not clear if financial interests are driving policy.
The administration frames its resistance to new AI restrictions as a matter of competitiveness, arguing that rules could slow US AI development in the race against China. However, concerns are also emerging from within the industry. Jacob Coxon, a former researcher at OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned in early September, warning that neither company is acting responsibly and that colleagues privately believe the technology "could kill us all by the end of the decade."
These warnings coincided with a demonstration of AI-enabled risk by a California cybersecurity firm, which used AI to build a self-spreading worm capable of hijacking WeChat accounts. The firm estimated the technology could compromise over a billion devices within hours, though Tencent patched the vulnerability before deployment. The exploit, which would have taken a larger team months, was developed in roughly 10 days with AI assistance.
A poll released on Wednesday found that only 11% of Americans support an AI data centre being built in their community, while 65% oppose one. The poll also indicated that 57% of Americans believe Trump has handled the issue of AI poorly, an increase of seven points since March.