Trump, Mike Johnson Say AI Industry Overreacting Amid Calls for Slowdown

Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed the recent appeal by Anthropic’s chief Dario Amodei to “pace the frontier” as an overblown alarm, calling the AI industry overreacting to speculative threats.

Trump and Johnson’s hard‑line stance

The duo warned that throttling innovation could hurt U.S. competitiveness, echoing sentiments voiced earlier by Reuters analysts who note a ↓ 12% dip in venture funding since the warning.

“We cannot let fear dictate policy,” Johnson said on the floor, as reported by Bloomberg.

Why the AI industry overreacting narrative matters

Industry leaders such as Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Alphabet’s Demis Hassabis have signaled tentative support for a slower pace, yet the political backlash threatens to harden regulatory scrutiny.

Critics point to the pandemic era, when swift tech rollouts sparked debate over safety versus speed, drawing a parallel to today’s AI surge.

Words by Eleanor Cross (Chief Washington Correspondent).