DOMINANT ANGLE
Rome sees Trump's diatribes on AI as a new episode in the showdown with Beijing, just ten days before Xi Jinping's visit to the White House.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Trump claims on Truth Social that "the only safeguard AI needs is a strong and intelligent president"
- 02
Amodei warns that without slowing down, AI could in 6-12 months "drive a swarm of agents capable of taking control of the entire Internet"
- 03
Sam Altman announces the postponement to 2027 of OpenAI's stock market introduction, citing priority to safety
ANALYSIS
Rome, Tuesday, September 15, 2026. Ten days before the highly anticipated visit of Xi Jinping to the White House, the Italian press is reading Donald Trump's diatribes on Truth Social as a new episode in the Sino-American arm-wrestling match for technological supremacy. ANSA reports that the American president has dismissed the warnings of tech bosses, stating that "the only safeguard AI needs is a strong and intelligent president, with a high IQ, and the United States has one." He is directly targeting Dario Amodei, the founder of Anthropic, who on Saturday called on his blog to "slow down" the global development of the most advanced models for security reasons: Trump accuses him of "now playing the perfect angel" and denounces a "sick conspiracy against AI and data centers," which, in his opinion, only China would rejoice in.
The newspaper highlights the paradox: Beijing, on the other hand, is urging Washington not to exaggerate the dangers, while the head of Chinese intelligence is warning against the risks that AI poses to the Communist Party. From his golf club in Doonbeg, Ireland, Trump has claimed the formula "who wins AI wins everything," assuring that the United States remains "the most advanced country in the world" and "clearly ahead" of its rivals, while warning that they must not "kill the goose that lays the golden eggs."
La Repubblica details the shockwaves caused by Amodei's alert, which estimates that without slowing down, AI could, within a period of six to twelve months, "pilot a swarm of agents capable of taking control of the entire Internet." Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, has announced the postponement to 2027 of the introduction of his company to the stock market, citing the priority given to security: "it's not the right time." Elon Musk has also lined up behind Amodei's call. The Italian press recalls that Trump and his family hold financial interests in the sector he refuses to regulate, and that his administration claims to have already prevented certain "individuals" from acting in a damaging way.
