President Trump announced Saturday he's forming an "AI Force" and appointing an AI "Czar" — and the very tech titans who built the online censorship machine are now urging "caution" on artificial intelligence development.
The same executives who spent years perfecting the content-moderation apparatus that silenced dissenting voices across the internet — OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic's Dario Amodei, and even xAI's Elon Musk — are now calling to slow AI development. An oversight body answerable to the public rather than Silicon Valley could break the stranglehold these companies hold over the flow of information. That's why they're nervous.
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social, framing opposition to AI as the latest in a long line of what he called hoaxes "generated by the Radical Left Dumocrats, for purposes of destroying our Country." He listed Russia, Ukraine, global warming, impeachment, men in women's sports, and "transgender for everyone" before adding: "and now, the decimation, or destruction, of AI."
"For this purpose, I am forming the AI Force, much like I did Space Force, which has been a tremendous SUCCESS, in my First Term," Trump wrote. "To that end, I will be announcing, in the near future, the AI 'Czar' — Only High I.Q. individuals need apply!"
The Daily Caller reported that Amodei, Musk, and Altman each warned AI development should slow down after "a series of close calls involving its range of functions." The New York Post added that the pressure follows Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon's resignation and public warning that supercharged intelligence "could kill us all by the end of the decade."
Follow the money. OpenAI, Anthropic, and their backers have poured billions into AI infrastructure. Calls to "slow down" after you've already secured market dominance is the oldest monopolist play in the book. Slow development means barriers to entry for competitors. It means regulatory capture — if government steps in, these companies will be at the table writing the rules.
Left-wing figures smell opportunity. Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed a 50% tax on AI and a total ban on portions of it, according to the New York Post. The same people who can't define what a woman is now want to define the limits of artificial intelligence.
Trump isn't buying it. "We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry," he wrote. "Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows! However, we will also be looking for BAD, and we can do that, very easily, with our already existing Criminal and Civil Justice System." Translation: use the laws already on the books, not a new regulatory apparatus designed by the industry it's supposed to police.
The data center fight is the front line. Around 75% of Americans oppose data centers near their homes, per a Gallup poll in May. But a PwC study commissioned by the Data Center Coalition found the industry supported 4.7 million American jobs in 2023, up from 2.9 million in 2017. California, with nearly 300 data centers, saw electricity prices spike roughly 96% between 2014 and 2024 — real costs that hit working people.
Trump has invited tech titans to the White House next week, including Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Musk, the Post reported. Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Trump on Sept. 24, with AI expected to be on the agenda. Matt Pearl, a director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former White House national security council member, called the announcement "recognition" that AI has become "the central defining issue of our time."
The question isn't whether AI needs oversight — it's who writes the rules. If Silicon Valley's censorship architects write them, Americans get another content-moderation cartel dressed up as "safety." If Trump's AI Czar answers to the public instead, the cartel breaks. The titans heading to the White House next week know it. That's why they're urging caution.
