DOMINANT ANGLE
Bucharest notes a head-on confrontation between the White House and America's own AI pioneers, the Romanian press quoting Trump's formula that establishes his own authority, rather than a new rule, as the sole safeguard.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Trump: "the only control or check the AI needs is a strong and intelligent president (high IQ!), and the US has one!"
- 02
Dario Amodei's (Anthropic) essay, published on Saturday and backed by Sam Altman and Elon Musk, calls for slowing down AI development
- 03
The Pentagon tried to designate Anthropic as a national security risk and Washington temporarily restricted one of its most advanced models
ANALYSIS
Bucharest, September 15, 2026. Romanian media outlets, via AP and Reuters dispatches, report on a verbal offensive by the US President against warnings about artificial intelligence. On Sunday, September 13, 2026, in Ireland, Donald Trump rejected calls to slow down the development of AI, judging that certain alarmist scenarios "will not happen" and affirming that his priority remains the US lead over China: "we are ahead of China in AI (...) whoever wins the AI race, wins." When asked about possible stricter regulation, he conceded that safeguards could exist, while accusing "very negative forces" of stirring up scenarios that, according to him, will never happen. The next day, Monday, September 14, 2026, in a series of social media posts, he called the idea of an AI "taking power over the world and destroying humanity" a "hoax," denouncing a "sick conspiracy" targeting AI and data centers. His phrase, picked up by Digi24 and Mediafax, was: "the only control or safeguard AI needs is A STRONG AND INTELLIGENT PRESIDENT (high IQ!), and the US has one!" Romanian articles note that these statements directly contradict the warnings of Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, whose approximately 3,800-word essay, published on Saturday, calls for slower development and proposes a three-step plan to give companies more time to face the risks of advanced models; the proposal received rapid support from Sam Altman (OpenAI) and Elon Musk. Digi24 also recalls that two Anthropic researchers warned that the current development pace could, in the not-too-distant future, lead to the extinction of humanity. Trump further claimed that his administration had already prevented Anthropic from doing "bad or potentially bad things" — even as the Pentagon tried to designate the company as a risk to national security and Washington temporarily restricted access to one of its most advanced models. He also attacked tech leaders calling for stricter rules, questioning their "economic logic": why would industry leaders demand constraints that could harm their own businesses? Both reports note that these same leaders have invested millions of dollars in the campaign for the November legislative elections, while the Trump administration has generally adopted a position favorable to AI companies.
