Debates over the threats posed by artificial intelligence have been raging for quite a while, but last week, the dam broke.

As Vox’s Andrew Prokop explained in a piece over the weekend, “This was the week that worries AI might kill us all finally went mainstream — captivating public attention and even starting to galvanize politicians into more aggressive stances. An unprecedented rogue AI incident, a high-profile resignation from a top AI company, and increased concern from tech researchers about AI improving itself too quickly to be contained, have all combined to draw a much louder response from elected leaders in both parties.”

The same day, the public learned of Barack Obama’s latest comments on the subject, including the former president’s concerns that without proper restrictions, AI technology could be “dangerous.” The Democrat, speaking at a private fundraising event days earlier, urged Democrats to take the lead on AI guardrails, saying this should be among the party’s top priorities.

His Republican successor clearly doesn’t see the issue the same way.

Asked Thursday about potentially catastrophic AI risks and whether he has any concerns, Donald Trump told reporters, “No, I don’t have any.” Instead, the incumbent president characterized the broader issue as an international arms race he expects the United States to win.

“I have concerns that if we don’t win AI, we’re going to be put in a very bad position,” the Republican added.

Later that day, Trump sat down with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, who asked about possible “guardrails” to protect the public. The president responded with a long, meandering answer that included some insulting comments about Joe Biden, before eventually saying, “China doesn’t have guardrails, by the way. You know the guardrails? President [Xi Jinping] is the guardrail.”

During his controversial trip to Ireland, Trump was asked again about possibly regulating the AI industry. “Well, I say this,” he replied. “Look, we’re leading China in AI. … And frankly, I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI wins. And we can put guardrails, we can do this and that, but I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up.”

All of this set the stage for a bizarre tirade the Republican published to his social media platform on Monday morning, which read in its entirety:

The only control or “guardrails” that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades! The Trump Administration has stopped AI “people” from doing bad, or potentially bad, “things,” like [Dario Amodei, the chief executive of the artificial intelligence company Anthropic], who is now pretending to be a “perfect little angel” — and we will continue to do so! We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS! We are leading China, and all others, and will continue to do so. Conspiracy Theorists, Treasonists, Traitors, and Leakers, BEWARE! Thank you for your attention to this matter!

It was a difficult message to decipher, but the bottom line appeared to be Trump trying to assure the public that (a) a smart president can personally and individually curtail any potential AI dangers; (b) he’s a smart president; ergo (c) there’s nothing to worry about as he sticks to the status quo.

As for the line that he keeps repeating — “whoever wins AI wins” — the president has yet to finish the sentence to explain what specifically the victor of the AI arms race will win.

In theory, Congress could shrug off Trump’s reluctance to do any real work on the subject, but under the current Republican majority, that now appears unlikely. House Speaker Mike Johnson spent part of the weekend arguing against new regulatory safeguards and suggesting federal lawmakers lack the necessary qualifications to engage in effective policymaking. The Louisiana Republican went on to argue that private AI companies should take the lead in overseeing themselves.

If AI wasn’t an election issue before, it is now.

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