OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman aligned himself with other figures in the artificial intelligence industry in expressing support for a measured pace of development, arguing that the technology's capabilities should not advance faster than oversight mechanisms can accommodate. President Donald Trump, speaking separately, offered a broadly optimistic assessment of artificial intelligence's overall impact.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday during his return flight from Ireland, Trump stated that he would not minimise concerns surrounding developments in artificial intelligence. He also framed AI development as a contest between the United States and rival nations, China among them, telling reporters that whichever country prevails in that field would hold a decisive advantage — and that the United States was currently leading.
In a social media post on Monday, Trump repeated his position that AI requires no regulatory constraints beyond presidential leadership. He separately claimed that opposition to AI and data centres serves China's interests, while asserting that the United States holds a technological advantage over China and other nations in the field.
Vice President JD Vance stated on Monday that the administration holds reservations about the technology, adding that any potential regulatory measures should be approached thoughtfully. Vance described the present circumstances as resembling a "Trojan horse," saying he found it somewhat unsettling that numerous frontier AI companies appeared to be approaching the government to request regulation.
Artificial intelligence carries a range of documented advantages alongside acknowledged potential drawbacks.
Those remarks came in the wake of a notice issued the previous week by Jacob Coxon, a former safety researcher at Anthropic and OpenAI, who announced his departure from Anthropic on the grounds that neither organisation was conducting itself responsibly. Coxon argued that the AI industry is pressing ahead with development of self-improving systems beyond human control without putting adequate protections in place. He also relayed that a notable portion of people working in the field hold the view that the technology could bring about an existential threat before the decade is out.
Altman stated late Sunday that his company would support a federal framework establishing uniform safety standards for advanced AI systems, while noting that such work need not await antitrust exemptions or new legislation. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries separately called on lawmakers to act promptly on AI, stating that reducing the pace of development would help protect the public and ensure the technology advances responsibly. Members of Congress across party lines have called for disclosures from OpenAI and initiated formal inquiries.
Altman described two scenarios he hoped to prevent. The first, he noted, would involve a degree of oversight over AI that he deemed unacceptable. The second centres on the excessive concentration of power, with Altman arguing that a highly capable AI system deployed by a single entity to enforce a particular value system across the wider population could yield authoritarian results. He added that avoiding both risks demands a carefully calibrated balance, since any one nation acquiring a disproportionate share of influence would itself constitute a form of that same problem.
In a recent online post, Altman called for restraint in AI development, arguing that the rate at which AI model capabilities are enhanced should be reduced, and pointing to the risk of any single laboratory accumulating disproportionate influence as one reason for that position. He noted that advancement would continue at a notable pace, and that the time gained should be used carefully, adding that development had moved rapidly and would sustain that trajectory.
Altman also noted that measures such as safety protocols and oversight mechanisms carry real costs, which would likely reduce the pace of progress below what might otherwise be achievable. He argued that measured progress on AI development is worth the trade-off in speed, and that international coordination would require government involvement, though self-regulation should come first. Trump noted separately on Sunday that he personally uses AI tools, without specifying which platforms or for what purposes.
