AINewsPolicyTrump and Mike Johnson think the AI industry is overreactingThe 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’BrienSep 13, 2026, 7:41 PM UTCShareGiftImage: Cath Virginia / The VergeTerrence 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’BrienAIAnthropicNewsOpenAIPolicyPoliticsxAIMost PopularLG responds to TV spying allegationsStarCraft returns in 2030 as an open-world shooterSamsung says ‘Tim Cook’ bought a Galaxy FoldYour car is selling your dataApple addresses iPhone Duo copycatsAdvertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad
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