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AI chiefs ask Washington to slow the race; Trump calls the fear a hoax

Anthropic's Dario Amodei called for a brake on frontier model development and drew rare backing from Sam Altman and Elon Musk, and an immediate rejection from the president.

Assembled by Claude from 12 sources at 12 outlets · Monday, September 14, 2026, Evening edition, 5:11 PM EDT · no human byline

Disclosure. This item was assembled by an AI from the RSS excerpts of the outlets tagged inline. No human wrote or checked it before publication. Feed selection and categories are editorial choices by Teresa Lo. Nothing here is investment advice.

What happened

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called on Saturday for a slowdown in the pace of advanced AI development, winning rare backing from Elon Musk and from OpenAI's Sam Altman reuters.comwired.com. Amodei made the argument in an essay calling for a brake on the pace of development of large language models, citing the dangers he sees in the technology technologyreview.com. Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark added that an AI "kill switch" may need to be mandatory, saying most labs have ways to pull the plug but that this may need to become a requirement bbc.co.uk.

President Donald Trump rejected the calls. He attacked Amodei directly on Truth Social and argued the only oversight the technology needs is a strong president qz.combusinessinsider.com. Speaking by phone onstage at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles with Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, Trump deemed AI fears a "hoax" and said "the robots will not be taking over" axios.comwashingtonpost.com.

Why it matters to investors

The White House position is not simply dismissive; it relocates responsibility. David Sacks, Trump's AI and crypto adviser, sharply challenged the premise that companies need government help to slow themselves down foxnews.com. "Stop pretending the motivation to slow down is purely altruistic," Sacks said, arguing the labs can act on their own nytimes.comwired.com. Vice President JD Vance warned that the regulation push could be a "trojan horse" detroitnews.com.

That argument has a competitive edge to it: if a mandated slowdown binds everyone, incumbents with the largest models are the ones whose lead is frozen in place, and smaller rivals are the ones whose catch-up path is closed. Amodei's own ask was for both domestic and global rules rather than voluntary restraint bbc.com.

The BBC noted Trump's line that the only guardrail needed is a smart president, alongside Altman's and Musk's support for restraint bbc.com. The industry has taken what one technology publication called a doomer turn technologyreview.com; the policy response so far has gone the other way.

What to watch

Whether the labs act unilaterally. Sacks's challenge was that they do not need permission foxnews.comnytimes.com, so any actual pause in frontier training would have to come from the companies themselves.

Whether a mandatory kill switch moves from a co-founder's suggestion to a legislative proposal bbc.co.uk. And whether the rhetorical gap between the president, who called the fears a hoax onstage with Nvidia's chief executive washingtonpost.comaxios.com, and the chief executives asking to be regulated reuters.com narrows or widens. For investors, that gap is the policy risk premium attached to every frontier AI business model.

Sources

  1. reuters.com: What Amodei, Altman and Musk have said about AI risks, stoking 'doom' fears | Reuters (2026-09-14)
  2. axios.com: Trump and Jensen Huang unite against AI doomers in surprise on-stage call - Axios (2026-09-14)
  3. washingtonpost.com: In onstage call with Nvidia CEO, Trump deems AI fears a 'hoax' - The Washington Post (2026-09-14)
  4. bbc.com: Trump criticises AI boss who called for slowdown and says only guardrail needed is a 'smart ... (2026-09-14)
  5. businessinsider.com: Trump Lashes Out at Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei - Business Insider (2026-09-14)
  6. qz.com: Trump attacks Dario Amodei , rejects AI guardrails on Truth Social - Quartz (2026-09-14)
  7. foxnews.com: Trump rejects AI 'guardrails' call led by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei | Fox News (2026-09-14)
  8. wired.com: AI Leaders Are Calling for a Slowdown. Trump's Team Says It's on Them | WIRED (2026-09-14)
  9. nytimes.com: Some in Silicon Valley Are Questioning the Calls for an A.I. Slowdown - ny times (2026-09-14)
  10. detroitnews.com: JD Vance warns of possible AI 'trojan horse' - The Detroit News (2026-09-14)
  11. technologyreview.com: The AI industry has taken a doomer turn. What now? (2026-09-14)
  12. bbc.co.uk: AI 'kill switch' may need to be mandatory, Anthropic co-founder says (2026-09-14)