Trump and Mike Johnson think the AI industry is overreacting
Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson reject AI executives' calls to slow development, warning restrictions could let China win the AI race.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an open letter urging labs to 'pace the frontier' and slow AI development, drawing public support from OpenAI's Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Alphabet's Demis Hassabis. Trump told the Financial Times the US leads China in AI and that 'whoever wins AI, wins.' House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN that rushing AI regulation could itself be a 'national security threat' and urged against panic-driven congressional action.
- Amodei's 'pace the frontier' slowdown letter backed by Altman, Musk, Hassabis
- Trump says US leads China in AI and wants to keep it that way
- Johnson warns hasty AI regulation could help China win the race
Full article269 words · extracted from theverge.com · click to collapse
The Republicans fear slowing down AI development could give China the edge.
The Republicans fear slowing down AI development could give China the edge.
by Terrence O'Brien
Sep 13, 2026, 7:41 PM UTC
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge
Terrence O'Brien
is the Verge’s weekend editor. He’s covered the tech industry for over 18 years and knows a thing or two about synths.
Yesterday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a lengthy open letter saying it was time to “pace the frontier” and slow down AI development. OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk both agreed, publicly voicing their support on X. Even Alphabet’s Demis Hassabis offered tentative support for Amodei’s proposal.
Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, seem to think the AI executives are being overreactive and fear that a pause could lead to China outpacing the US in the AI race. According to the Financial Times, Trump said “Look, we’re leading China in AI ... and, frankly, I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI, wins.”
Johnson echoed those sentiments on CNN, telling Jake Tapper that rushing to place restrictions on AI development could be a “national security threat.” He urged people not to panic. “If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try and regulate AI, we will lose the race to China.”
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
- Terrence O'Brien
The Verge Daily
A free daily digest of the news that matters most.
Email (required)
Text extracted automatically; images, tables and formatting may be missing. Original: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/994441/trump-mike-johnson-ai-industry-overreacting