Two prominent Republicans are pushing back against the growing chorus of artificial intelligence executives calling for a slowdown in the technology's development, warning that halting progress could let China overtake the United States. President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson each argued that the country's current lead in AI should be protected rather than restrained, according to statements reported by the Financial Times and CNN.
Trump told the Financial Times that the United States is ahead of China in AI and that he intends to keep it that way, reasoning that whichever nation wins AI wins overall. Johnson made similar remarks during an appearance on CNN with Jake Tapper, saying that hastily imposing restrictions on AI development could amount to a national security threat. Johnson told Tapper that if Congress rushed into an emergency session to regulate AI, the country would lose the race to China.
The comments follow an open letter from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who argued it is time to pace the frontier and slow AI development. The letter drew public support from OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk, both of whom voiced their agreement on X. Alphabet's Demis Hassabis also offered tentative support for Amodei's proposal.
The divide places leading AI companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Alphabet, and Musk's xAI, at odds with key figures in the Republican Party on the question of how quickly the technology should advance. Amodei's proposal has been characterized as a call to slow the pace of frontier development, while Trump and Johnson have framed such restraint as a competitive risk.
The debate comes amid broader congressional interest in regulating AI. Johnson's remarks indicated his opposition to lawmakers moving quickly on emergency legislation, while supporters of Amodei's position have argued for a more cautious approach to frontier models. The disagreement centers on whether slowing development protects against risk or cedes a strategic advantage.
Trump's argument that whoever wins AI wins was framed as a reason to maintain the current pace. Johnson's warning that regulation could become a national security threat echoed that concern in terms of congressional action. The statements leave the policy direction unresolved as AI companies and lawmakers weigh competing priorities.
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