Trump Vows DOJ Will Rein In AI, Announces "AI Force"

President Donald Trump stated on Monday that the Department of Justice and other US law enforcement agencies will rein in risks associated with artificial intelligence if they have to.

Trump wrote on Truth Social, "We will be careful." Trump again downplayed potential dangers from AI, which he has repeatedly called a hoax in the past two weeks. This follows Jacob Coxon, an AI researcher at Anthropic, quitting his job and warning that Anthropic and OpenAI are gambling with their lives with the technology. Trump has touted AI development by American companies as a competitive advantage, writing, "Whoever wins AI, WINS!" and "We are leading now over China, and everyone else, and I'm going to keep it that way!"

He added, "I'm not going to stifle Growth, of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution, or the Internet, itself." On Saturday, Trump announced plans to create an "AI Force" and appoint an "AI czar." He posted on Truth Social that his administration will not in an curb the development of an industry he views as paramount to America's power.

In a September 14 Truth Social post, Trump wrote, "We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies." Since Coxon's warning, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and Demis Hassabis, chair of Google DeepMind, have called for a slowdown of AI development and extra federal oversight. The White House has largely taken a light approach to AI regulation, with Trump's executive order in June laying out a loose plan for review.

That order asked companies to voluntarily work with the administration to evaluate covered frontier models and give the government access up to 30 days before a broad release. A Rainey Center poll found Trump's approval at 54% among daily AI users, compared to 45% who disapproved. A Tavern Research poll found 76% of Americans want to prioritize AI safety over rapid innovation, while 12% prefer rapid innovation. Only 19% of those polled by Tavern Research approved of Trump's approach to AI, with 52% disapproving.