Trump and Johnson Push Back Against AI Pause Calls

Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei published an open letter this week urging the industry to “pace the frontier,” calling for a deliberate slowdown in AI development. OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk each voiced support for the proposal on X. Alphabet’s Demis Hassabis offered more tentative backing.

Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have pushed back against the calls for a pause, according to reporting from The Verge. Both are reported to view the industry’s concerns as overreactive. Their objection centers on competitive standing relative to China, with both men reportedly fearing that any slowdown in American AI development could allow China to move ahead in the field.

The dispute now spans a wide range of figures with influence over the trajectory of frontier AI, from the executives building the systems to political leaders positioned to shape the regulatory and competitive environment around them. Amodei’s letter drew qualified agreement from rival lab heads who do not always align publicly on policy questions, marking a notable moment of convergence among leading AI companies. Trump and Johnson’s response indicates that convergence has not extended to the political sphere, where concerns about ceding technological ground to China continue to shape public statements on the pace of AI development.

The Verge’s report did not indicate what steps, if any, either man plans to take in response to Amodei’s proposal.