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‘Sick conspiracy’: Trump says only guardrails AI needs is ‘a strong and smart (High IQ!) president’ in all-caps rant

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Cite

Feinberg, A. (2026, September 14). ‘Sick conspiracy’: Trump says only guardrails AI needs is ‘a strong and smart (High IQ!) president’ in all-caps rant. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ai-rant-conspiracy-guardrails-b3049920.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Independent · collected 2026-09-14 · by Andrew Feinberg

Quick Summary

President Donald Trump criticized those he called "Conspiracy Theorists" for opposing rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), posting on Truth Social that only a strong and intelligent president is needed to regulate AI, without specifying any concrete actions or regulations. This comes after CEO Dario Amodei of Anthropic suggested slowing the development pace of AI due to potential risks such as rogue agents taking over the internet within six to 12 months. Trump’s comments followed a market downturn for tech companies involved in AI and data centers, with shares of firms like Intel, Micron, and Nvidia falling by several percent.
Written by AI on 2026-09-14, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

President Trump dismissed growing concerns about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), asserting that there is no need for additional regulation or "guardrails" on AI development. In posts on social media and comments to reporters, he claimed that the United States already has a sufficient safeguard in his presidency, stating, “The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.” Trump also accused unnamed forces of exaggerating risks and engaging in a "SICK conspiracy" against AI companies. This stance contrasts with calls from leading scientists and tech CEOs like Dario Amodei from Anthropic and Sam Altman from OpenAI, who advocate for slowing down the pace of AI development due to safety concerns. The disagreement comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit Washington on September 24 for an official summit where AI will be a key topic of discussion between the two nations.

Written for “Trump AI Rants Condemning Critics” on 2026-10-30, grounded in this article and the 40 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Trump AI Rants Condemning Critics
Politics · 41 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

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This article reads unscored and hedges 11% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
27
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
11%
3 of 27 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
59/100
The Independent's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
41
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-14 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Independent · 3401 article(s) · 7 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 7 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Andrew Feinberg
26 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Who could have guessed that Trump would get so spun up over a law that’s been on the books since Abraham Lincoln was president?
🔮 “Well, I guess you could say for that particular purpose, for the purpose of allowing a man who was thinking he was going to be in prison for life out.
🔮 “Well, I guess you could say for that particular purpose, for the purpose of allowing a man who was thinking he was going to be in prison for life out.
🔮 Who could have guessed that Trump would get so spun up over a law that’s been on the books since Abraham Lincoln was president?
🔮 It didn’t take Susie Wiles more than a few day to put a stop to the buzz in Washington that predicted her time as chief of staff was up.
🔮 President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is “70% filled with water and looking good” and warned that anyone who damages it again “will GO TO JAIL,” even though federal prosecutors appointed by Trump himself have told a court the pool’s lining was ruined by a botched installation and not by vandals.
🔮 You think about it, but I wouldn’t reconsider.
🔮 He reportedly has found no shortage of people willing to encourage him to dump his loyal aide overboard, with one GOP operative noting that Wiles has “burned a lot of people” in her time leading Trump’s administration.
🔮 She was asked about how she will handle the notoriously tough press secretary role while juggling being a mother to four children given how her predecessor chose to resign over the burdens of balancing the job with caring for just two children.
🔮 House Speaker Mike Johnson has told the Trump administration he has doubts about its plan to broadcast the firing squad execution of Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan, warning that video of the killing could end up as “a recruiting tool for future terrorists.”
Also by Andrew Feinberg
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 26 articles by Andrew Feinberg →

Topics

American Anthropic China OpenAI Truth Social

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 6× Anthropic ORG · 4× OpenAI ORG · 3× Amodei ORG · 2× China GPE · 2× American NORP · 1× Dario Amodei PERSON · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× The Trump Administration ORG · 1× Truth Social ORG · 1×

Narrative

Trump’s post follows a negative reaction to the whole episode on the part of stock markets, with Nasdaq futures falling more than 1 percent overnight and chip stocks sliding on Monday, with Intel down close to 6 percent, Micron around 5 percent and Nvidia roughly 3 percent, as investors priced in the possibility that the companies buying the hardware intend to buy it more slowly.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-14
🔮 "The Trump Administration has stopped AI 'people' from doing bad, or potentially bad, 'things,' like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a 'perfect little angel' — and we will continue to do so

Claims (27 extracted, 3 hedged)

President Donald Trump said Monday that a "SICK conspiracy" is being waged against artificial intelligence and the data centers that run it by what he described as a group of "Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers" — two days after the heads of the largest American AI companies publicly called on their own industry to slow down. asserted
heads → say → industry
Writing on Truth Social, Trump attacked one of them, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and suggested that no new regulations on AI are needed because of powers the government already has. uncertain
government → write → powers
"The Trump Administration has stopped AI 'people' from doing bad, or potentially bad, 'things,' like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a 'perfect little angel' — and we will continue to do so asserted
we → stop → Dario
!" Trump wrote. asserted
Trump → write → ?
"We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies!" asserted
We → have → companies
He did not say what conduct he was referring to, what the criminal power consists of, or who the conspirators are. asserted
conspirators → say → what
"The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!" he said. asserted
he → need → spades
He added: "There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. asserted
that → add → it
We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so." Trump’s rant comes after Amodei published an essay on Saturday in which he argued that AI companies should deliberately slow the rate at which they make their models more capable. asserted
models → lead → which
"We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. asserted
we → slow → models
Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain," Amodei wrote. asserted
Amodei → seem → time
"The measures I propose to advance the frontier at a safe pace will not be easy. asserted
I → propose → pace
But I believe we owe it to humanity to try." asserted
we → believe → humanity
He warned that within six to 12 months, a swarm of rogue AI agents could be capable of "taking over the entire internet with a persistent botnet," causing what he estimated as hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. uncertain
he → warn → damage
He said Anthropic would unilaterally give outside evaluators employee-level access to verify its safety procedures, and called on competitors to match it. asserted
Anthropic → say → it
In response, OpenAI's Sam Altman posted that he agreed "that we need to pace the frontier" and said his company would open itself to external evaluators too. asserted
company → post → evaluators
Elon Musk, who runs xAI, posted on his own platform that"Dario is right,” while Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis also signed on. asserted
Hassabis → run → platform
Trump’s post follows a negative reaction to the whole episode on the part of stock markets, with Nasdaq futures falling more than 1 percent overnight and chip stocks sliding on Monday, with Intel down close to 6 percent, Micron around 5 percent and Nvidia roughly 3 percent, as investors priced in the possibility that the companies buying the hardware intend to buy it more slowly. asserted
companies → follow → it
Shares in SoftBank, a major OpenAI investor, and in European suppliers to the data center buildout including ASML, Siemens Energy and Schneider Electric also fell. asserted
Shares → include → ASML
Trump's post also lands in the middle of an argument the White House has been having with Anthropic for nearly a year. asserted
House → land → year
David Sacks, who ran AI and cryptocurrency policy for the administration until March and now chairs the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, has accused the company of pursuing "a sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fearmongering." asserted
who → run → fearmongering
This week he told both Anthropic and OpenAI they were free to "go ahead and pace the frontier" but should stop asking Washington for an antitrust waiver or a formal approval regime to do it. asserted
they → tell → it
If the Trump administration opposes any collective attempt to slow down model development by leading AI companies, they could potentially use existing law to prevent that sort of cooperation. uncertain
they → oppose → cooperation
An agreement among rival firms to restrain output is the kind of arrangement antitrust law exists to prohibit, which is why the companies have sought legal cover before acting together — and why a slowdown that happens without it would most likely have to happen one company at a time. asserted
that → restrain → time
Amodei's critics have argued his motives are commercial rather than ethical. asserted
motives → argue → ?
"Dario makes the case to stop open source and concentrate enormous technological and economic power with Anthropic," the venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya wrote after the essay appeared. asserted
essay → make → Anthropic
The essay arrived at the end of a week in which the AI safety argument moved abruptly into public view, following the resignation of an Anthropic researcher who issued a public warning about the technology and a rogue-agent incident involving OpenAI and Hugging Face that is now the subject of a Senate inquiry. asserted
that → arrive → inquiry
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