President Donald Trump is doubling down on his support for the artificial intelligence industry, interrupting a tech summit to dismiss concerns against it.
As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang took the stage at the All-in Summit in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 14, Trump called the tech executive, who put him on speaker phone and grabbed a microphone for audiences to hear, video footage from the event shows.
“I’m telling you, it’s all a hoax,” Trump says over the phone, as recorded in the video. “The data centers are great, and they make people wealthy, and they make states wealthy. Data is the oil of the next 20–25 years. It's bigger than the internet and the AI."
The president also said critics of AI development were "playing right into the hands of a lot
of people that don't want to see it happen, and that could be political people, that could also be China".
"We're not going to let that happen," Trump said, drawing agreement from Huang.
Trump, in his remarks, also dismissed the notion of robots "taking over the world," Fox Business reported.
'a SICK conspiracy'
Earlier in the day, Trump dismissed the push for new guardrails to protect Americans from the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and warned of "a SICK conspiracy" that is turning people against AI and data centers in the United States.
In Sept. 14 post on Truth Social, Trump lashed out against Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who raised concerns about the unchecked pace of AI development and called for new guardrails in an essay published over the weekend.
"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!" Trump said. "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!"
In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump called fears about "AI taking over the World" and "destroying Humanity" a "HOAX."
The AI debate exploded in recent days as the industry grappled with questions about the technology's safety. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s published an essay on his website over the weekend expressing concerns about AI's rapid development and calling for greater precautions.
While some Democratic lawmakers are calling for action in Congress in response to the tech leaders raising alarm, the president has remained a firm defender of AI. He also continues to support data centers that power AI despite rising opposition to the expansion of the sprawling facilities in communities across the country.
Trump has argued AI development in the United States is critical to maintain a competitive edge against China.
Contributing: Joey Garrison / USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@usatodayco.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Watch Trump interrupt tech summit to dismiss concerns over AI
