Trump Rejects AI Slowdown as Democratic Governors Push Regulations

President Donald Trump has rejected calls for an industry-wide slowdown in artificial intelligence development, characterizing doomsday warnings as a "hoax." Trump argues that hindering AI growth would constitute "unilateral disarmament" in a strategic race against China. To manage the technology, he announced the creation of an "AI Force" to monitor bad actors and the appointment of an AI coordinator.

In contrast, Democratic leaders are implementing state-level regulations and pushing for federal oversight. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to accelerate a law requiring independent oversight and "kill switches" for AI systems. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro established state guardrails for generative AI and, during the AI Horizons 2026 Summit in Pittsburgh, called on the U.S. government and international leaders, including China, to establish ethical guardrails to prevent existential risks.

Federal Democratic lawmakers are also proposing national action. Senators Jon Ossoff and Ruben Gallego have advocated for an international AI treaty and the creation of a select committee on AI, respectively. While some bipartisan agreement exists in local races, a sharp divide remains at the national level. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and executives from Meta and Nvidia maintain that the U.S. must accelerate development to preserve economic supremacy, despite warnings from industry leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, and Elon Musk regarding rogue AI agents.