President Donald Trump rejected calls to slow artificial intelligence (AI) model development, arguing that a pause would allow China to overtake the United States in a strategically important competition. House Speaker Mike Johnson and former White House AI adviser David Sacks supported versions of that position after Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI urged a slowdown. Johnson said Congress had already established guardrails and that responsibility for product safety rests with the companies developing the models. Sacks told the three chief executives to stop seeking permission, while warning that their caution also has a commercial dimension because a damaging cyberattack could expose them to liability claims. China’s President Xi Jinping has called for a consensus-based global AI governance framework and pledged a BRICS AI open source community, while Senator Bernie Sanders has demanded a full pause and a treaty with Xi. Trump is scheduled to meet Sanders at the White House on September 24, with AI on the agenda. Anthropic chief Dario Amodei said coordinating a speed limit would be difficult if China did not participate, and his proposal calls for Washington to restrict advanced chip sales to China and disrupt smuggling networks. Stanford’s 2026 AI Index measured the American lead over the best Chinese model at 2.7% in March, while Chinese laboratories have been accused of copying American models. The dispute leaves the competing AI developers as the parties with the practical ability to slow development, even as officials weigh the security and military implications of falling behind China.