Trump and Mike Johnson think the AI industry is overreacting — SkimNews

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- Dario Amodei published an open letter calling to "pace the frontier" and slow down AI development, prompting rare agreement across the industry.
- Sam Altman and Elon Musk publicly backed Amodei's proposal on X, with Alphabet's Demis Hassabis offering tentative support as well.
- Donald Trump told the Financial Times the US is "leading China in AI" and "whoever wins AI, wins," framing a slowdown as a strategic loss rather than a safety gain.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN's Jake Tapper that rushing into emergency AI regulation would itself be a "national security threat" that could cost the US the race to China.
Why it matters: The bipartisan AI industry's top voices — including rivals who rarely agree — are now united on slowing frontier development, while the president and House speaker are casting that same consensus as dangerous. That split puts any near-term AI safety legislation in direct tension with the stated US-China AI race, and gives Beijing a rhetorical opening if American firms throttle themselves voluntarily.
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