Sources: Trump met privately with Sam Altman backstage at the GOP midterm convention, where they discussed AI and its growing power, at Altman's request (MS NOW)
Altman, Elon Musk and Anthropic chief Dario Amodei all urged an artificial intelligence slowdown over the weekend.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump met privately with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backstage at the Republican midterm convention. The meeting, requested by Altman, focused on artificial intelligence and its growing power, according to three people familiar with the encounter. A brief overview of their discussion was provided to MS NOW, though details were not extensively reported.
In the days following the meeting, both leaders took opposing stances on AI regulation. Altman argued that slowing down AI development "will be well worth this cost," emphasizing the importance of alignment and monitoring. He also announced that OpenAI would delay its public debut this year due to safety concerns. Meanwhile, Trump dismissed the notion of AI guardrails, stating that only a strong and smart president is needed to control the technology.
He warned that regulation would lead to "oblivion and bankruptcy," and praised AI as the greatest economic development engine in history. Trump had previously revoked a Biden-era directive on AI and signed an executive order in December 2024, aiming to establish a federal framework for AI development. The framework, completed by its August 1 deadline, was discussed with AI companies the following day.
Altman reportedly supported the executive order, while Trump continued to advocate for minimal regulation to allow unimpeded innovation.
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