US President Donald Trump has said the United States must maintain its lead in artificial intelligence and ‘superintelligence’, arguing that the country that wins the AI race will gain a decisive advantage globally. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump rejected efforts to impose global controls on AI.
Trump said his administration would not accept what he described as a ‘globalist scheme’ to control artificial intelligence. He argued that excessive regulation could prevent the technology from reaching its full potential.
“We reject the globalist scheme to control AI,” Trump said, adding that he preferred the term ‘superintelligence’ to artificial intelligence.
“Whoever wins AI, whoever wins SI, whoever wins super intelligence wins,” he said, highlighting the strategic importance he attaches to the technology. Trump also claimed that the US was ahead of China in AI ‘by a lot.’
Trump said artificial intelligence could transform the global economy on a scale greater than previous technological shifts.
“We’re not going to stifle it,” he said, arguing that AI could become ‘bigger than the industrial revolution, bigger than the internet’.
He said the US would continue to monitor the technology closely but would avoid measures that could slow its development. The administration would rely on the US Justice Department to watch developments in the sector while encouraging AI companies and researchers to continue expanding the technology.
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Trump’s comments come as the US and China compete for greater influence in artificial intelligence while governments worldwide debate how to address AI safety, national security and misinformation.
The two countries have been pursuing different approaches. US companies are developing frontier AI systems supported by advanced chips and expanding data-center infrastructure, while China is pushing the global adoption of open-source and lower-cost AI models.
US officials have also warned about China’s efforts to obtain capabilities from American AI systems. At the same time, Beijing has accused Washington of attempting to suppress Chinese companies and build an AI monopoly.
Rather than outlining a detailed regulatory framework, Trump’s UN remarks focused on maintaining US technological leadership and resisting international efforts to impose AI controls.
He said the technology would be watched ‘very closely through the Department of Justice,’ while making clear that his administration’s approach would encourage AI’s expansion rather than ‘rein it in.’