On the artificial intelligence revolution, President Donald Trump is right, and the prophets of doom are wrong.
Responding last weekend to calls by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to slow the development of frontier AI models, Trump responded, “You have a lot of very negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up, and they’re bringing things up that won’t happen.”
“We’re leading China on AI, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins,” he added.
Indeed.
Let’s be clear, the AI revolution is profoundly positive for the country. It promises to be as transformative as the Industrial Revolution, with some economists even comparing its scope to the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries. As Trump noted, the United States leads China in AI development, but that margin is slender. If the U.S. pauses or even slows innovation, Beijing could close the gap within a year. It is noteworthy that China has already dismissed talk of pausing its development of AI. Chinese dominance in AI would be a catastrophic outcome for American national security.
Because AI will reshape both global commerce and modern warfare, the U.S. cannot afford to surrender its dominant positions in the global economy and in global military power. Rather than slowing the pace of AI innovation, the Trump administration should pursue policies that accelerate the development of AI frontier models and that encourage the deployment of such models throughout the economy.
With its totalitarian system and aggressive mercantilist economic model, China poses an existential threat to the U.S. and the free world. If Beijing achieves AI dominance, military superiority over the U.S. will follow in short order. Future kinetic conflicts will be fought at machine speed through automated, AI-assisted decision-making. Falling behind in frontier models would severely compromise U.S. national security.
AI superiority is equally vital in cyberspace. Adversaries such as China, Russia, and Iran can deploy autonomous agents to identify and exploit vulnerabilities across the critical economic infrastructure of a country. The only viable defense against machine speed offensive cyber operations is frontier AI capable of real-time detection and threat mitigation.
TWENTY YEARS IN PRISON FOR WRITING CODE: BERNIE SANDERS WAGES NUCLEAR WAR ON AI
For the domestic economy, accelerating AI development offers solutions to severe economic headwinds, including an aging workforce, stagnant population growth, and soaring fiscal deficits. Advanced robotics powered by AI can offset demographic labor shortages. Furthermore, economists increasingly project that AI could sustainably lift GDP growth to 4%-5% annually, with some optimists forecasting double-digit gains by the next decade.
To preserve and strengthen the deep moat around the American AI ecosystem, the Trump administration should urge Congress to pass legislation supporting massive capital investment in semiconductors, data centers, and energy infrastructure. Full speed ahead is the only logical path forward.
James Rogan is a former U.S. diplomat who later worked in law and finance for over 30 years. He writes a subscription-based daily note on markets, economics, politics, and social issues. His email is [email protected].