As lawmakers from both sides of the aisle in the US have joined together calling for the regulation of powerful artificial intelligence models, one of the few vocal naysayers has been Donald Trump.
asserted
one → join → naysayers
He’s called the perceived dangers of the technology a “hoax” and a “scam”, arguing that the government already has “tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies”.
asserted
government → call → companies
It’s a starkly different stance from those of his former adviser Steve Bannon, the Republican Texas senator Ted Cruz and even the heads of the world’s leading AI companies.
asserted
It → ’ → companies
But it’s directly in line with the opinion of David Sacks – a prominent billionaire venture capitalist and Trump’s onetime AI and crypto czar, who has pushed back publicly and forcefully against recent claims of an impending AI apocalypse.
uncertain
who → ’ → apocalypse
Sacks, who believes regulation will erase the US lead in the global AI race, is seen as Trump’s AI whisperer – the adviser with the greatest influence in the White House on the topic.
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regulation → believe → topic
Time and again, he’s counseled the president to give a soft touch to AI regulation, helping push executive orders and other measures aimed at loosening restrictions on the technology.
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he → counsel → technology
He also maintains direct financial stakes in multiple AI companies.
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He → maintain → companies
On Friday, more than 100 AI researchers, professors and technologists signed a public letter urging third-party evaluations of AI models and outlining how that should be done.
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that → sign → models
The signatories included some of the most notable experts in the field, such as Geoffrey Hinton, the “godfather of AI”, and Stuart Russell, a renowned AI computer scientist.
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signatories → include → AI
Sacks, in characteristic form, dismissed the letter on social media, calling third-party evaluations “pseudoscience” and “censorship and control”.
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Sacks → dismiss → evaluations
“The last time we had media-generated panics like this (with Russiagate and Covid), social media companies created ‘trust & safety’ teams to censor conservative and dissident voices,” Sacks wrote.
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Sacks → have → voices
“These groups haven’t earned our trust, and their agenda is not our safety.”
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agenda → earn → trust
Derailing AI safety efforts
Last December, Trump signed an executive order to halt state laws that limited AI.
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that → derail → AI
It was one of the first of several actions by the president that put his alignment with Sacks on full display.
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that → put → display
The proclamation assigned a federal taskforce to have the “sole responsibility” of challenging states that attempt to pass laws restricting the technology.
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that → assign → technology
The order spelled out an influential role for Sacks to direct the taskforce’s litigation against states.
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Sacks → spell → states
Then, just four months later, in March, the White House unveiled an AI policy for Congress that encouraged lawmakers to pre-empt state rules.
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that → unveil → rules
Again, Sacks was seen as working behind the scenes to make this happen.
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this → see → scenes
This pattern has continued throughout the year.
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pattern → continue → year
In July, Trump and Sacks hosted a fanfare-filled AI summit in Washington.
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Trump → host → Washington
And just this week, Trump called Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, to discuss AI regulation.
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Trump → call → regulation
In a live demonstration of Sacks’ proximity to the most powerful people in the US, the call came in while Sacks was interviewing Huang at an event on stage.
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Sacks → come → stage
Next week, Trump is hosting China’s leader, Xi Jinping, at the White House and is expected to invite several AI CEOs to be present.
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Trump → host → CEOs
Sacks is also slated to be one of the guests in attendance, according to NBC News.
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Sacks → slat → News
Isabel Sunderland, the policy lead for technology reform at the non-profit Issue One, said that Sacks’ relationship with the president shows what happens when money can buy a direct line to power.
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money → say → power
“David Sacks advising President Trump on AI shows exactly how our political system serves the wealthy and well-connected instead of everyday Americans,” Sunderland said.
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Sunderland → advise → wealthy
“This is about more than just AI regulation – it’s about who’s allowed to write the rules.”
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who → ’ → rules
Trump’s most recent full-throated opposition to AI regulation comes after an Anthropic employee, Jacob Coxon, announced on social media last week that he was resigning from the company, saying AI would soon become “superhuman systems” that could cause human extinction by 2030.
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that → come → 2030
After Coxon’s post, other Anthropic employees backed these predictions, with one saying: “We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans!”
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AI → back → humans
The end-of-the-world prognostications whipped up a frenzy of media and lawmakers’ attention over the past two weeks, with US politicians, heads of state and international bodies calling for the tech to be reined in.
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tech → whip → state
Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, issued a proposal to slow down the technology’s advancement and ensure public safety by regulating the industry.
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Amodei → issue → industry
In a rare public display of unity, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis and xAI owner Elon Musk agreed.
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Altman → agree → unity
Sacks, however, pushed back on any regulatory action, instead indicating the proposal was an “election-season psyop” and a bid for “regulatory capture”.
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proposal → push → capture
In a lengthy social media post responding to Amodei’s proposal, Sacks said: “If the unreleased models are scary enough that you think you should slow down, I support your decision to be responsible.
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I → respond → decision
But stop pretending you need anyone else’s permission.
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you → pretend → permission
Sacks, like his tech contemporaries Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, hails from South Africa.
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Sacks → hail → Africa
He was born in Cape Town in 1972 and then emigrated with his family to the US in the late 1970s.
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He → bear → 1970s
Sacks spent his college career majoring in economics at Stanford, where he met Thiel and worked with him at the conservative student-run newspaper the Stanford Review.
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he → spend → newspaper
The two men also collaborated after graduating, co-authoring in 1995 the book The Diversity Myth: Multiculturalism and the Politics of Intolerance at Stanford, an early glimpse into Sacks’ political ideology.
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men → collaborate → ideology
The book rails against “multiculturalism”, “diversity” and the “politically correct” decline of higher education.
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book → rail → education
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
