MS NOW, citing three sources, reports President Trump met privately last
Thursday backstage at the Republican National Convention with OpenAI CEO Sam
Altman; one source said Altman requested the meeting. A former OpenAI researcher
has publicly accused OpenAI and competitor Anthropic of acting irresponsibly and
endangering human safety. The pair discussed AI and its growing influence and,
in subsequent days, expressed clear differences over slowing frontier AI. Altman
wrote Sunday that a slowdown is worth the cost, saying competitive pressure is
no excuse for reckless development and that capabilities must not outpace
alignment and oversight. Trump rejected the need for AI guardrails, warned
regulation would lead to the industry’s “extinction and bankruptcy,” and called
AI the greatest economic development engine in history.
