In a Q&A, Trump discusses Dario Amodei's views as differing much from “what is portrayed in the media”, meetings with AI leaders, “Super Intelligence”, and more

President Donald Trump sat down for an interview with TIME at the White House on Sept. 28.

Time 2026-10-02

Context & Ripple Effects

Trump's public posture toward Dario Amodei had swung from describing Anthropic as a national-security threat in June to attacking Amodei's preferred AI guardrails in September. The reported private White House dinner with Amodei marked a visible thaw before this interview.

By saying Amodei's views differ from their media portrayal while discussing meetings with AI leaders, Trump puts personal access to the White House alongside his stated skepticism of regulation that could constrain investment.

First-order effects

Amodei and Anthropic gain a less adversarial channel to the administration after September's public attacks on AI guardrails, even though Trump does not endorse Amodei's risk framing.
Trump positions his own advisers and meetings with industry leaders as the venue for handling “Super Intelligence,” rather than committing to prescriptive AI rules.

Second-order effects

AI leaders seeking federal influence have an incentive to prioritize direct White House engagement, since Trump frames regulation as a potential threat to companies' ability to compete.
Anthropic's policy arguments must contend with a White House narrative that treats safety restrictions as potentially incompatible with investment and industrial scale.

Third-order effects

If White House access continues to shape how frontier-lab concerns are received, strategic legitimacy for AI companies will depend increasingly on state relationships as well as technical and safety claims.
The exchange belongs to a state-mediated AI model in which executive discretion and industry consultation can carry more weight than durable, rule-based oversight.

The trend: US AI policy is being framed around national competitiveness and presidential access, elevating the value of state-compatible positioning by frontier-model labs.

Discussion

NewsMax.com NewsMax.com on x
Trump Cautions Against AI Regulation, Points to Surge in Investment
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima-Strong on x
@TIME Trump says the AI (erm, or SI) Force will be a “group of very smart people that understand it, who will be advising me”
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima-Strong on x
@TIME Trump reiterates stance on regulation: “Look, I say, if you're going to seek regulation, they can put you out of business.” Talks about how AI could be bigger than the industrial revolution and that there's trillions being invested in US
@brianstelter Brian Stelter on x
Before you do anything else today, you should read the transcript of @TIME's brand new interview with President Trump. https://time.com/...
@cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x
For a long time I've wanted a sense of how trump has or hasn't interacted with chatbots (we know he posts a lot of slop sure). And this TIME anecdote about Grok arguably leading Trump into war is just extremely bracing [Screenshot of Time's Q&A: “...He asked Grok how Venezuelans…
@daniellmcadams Daniel McAdams on x
There is a madman in the White House...
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima-Strong on x
@TIME Asked about why he's meeting with the tech CEOs, Trump talks about how few really understand AI, of which he says, “This is a whole new world, probably mostly good, but some bad too.” Reiterates that he wants to “keep winning” globally
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima-Strong on x
@TIME Trump continues his rebranding efforts, saying AI is now SI, and fake news is now SI. He says Xi endorsed the SI moniker (though Xi still referred to it as AI in his remarks, according to translators). Says AI Force will be renamed, too
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima-Strong on x
@TIME In discussing the economy, Trump touts investments by Apple and Nvidia. (You'll recall Jensen Huang and Tim Cook made the prized table with Trump and Xi at the state dinner last week.)
@jenniferjjacobs Jennifer Jacobs on x
Trump on data centers: “They're going to lower your taxes. Look at Loudoun County, where they made one and a half billion dollars this year. They don't know what to do with all that money.”
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima-Strong on x
@TIME Trump shoots down idea of the US government nationalizing the AI labs but leaves door open to US having a stake or investing in them. It's been reported OpenAI offered 5% stake to gov
@mikeysmith Mikey Smith on x
Time's interview with Trump starts wild and only gets wilder.
@timodc Tim Miller on x
Trump is asked about the war in Iran by Time magazine. His reply: “What's the purpose of like this crazy Kaitlin Collins?” She's a very average person. She's the most unhappy young person I've ever seen." https://time.com/...
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima-Strong on x
@TIME Trump, who just signed a non-binding accord with the tech CEOs around AI safety, dodges questions on whether he trusts Anthropic's Amodei or OpenAI's Altman (who wasn't at the meeting and didn't sign for the company)
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima-Strong on x
@TIME Asked about rogue AI agents breaching federal government systems, Trump says, “They're not allowed to do that, and if they do that, they, you know, could have penalties that are not going to be acceptable to them.”
@viacristiano Cristiano Lima-Strong on x
Here are the tech & AI bits from Trump's interview with @TIME 🧵 First, Trump says Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's views are “much different ... than what is portrayed in the media,” adding that he “understands.” Trump says he liked Amodei and his wife and he's a “very smart guy” [im…
@atrupar Aaron Rupar on x
TIME: So what is the hoax of AI? Who's behind it? TRUMP: The whole country is based on fake stuff because these people have Trump derangement syndrome.
@cmgiulini Lynn Becker on bluesky
If you can read this transcript of a man incapable of sustaining a train of thought, repeating himself on obsessive topics like grandpa in a rest home, lying, vituperating, ranting, ranting, ranting ... and not realize we have a destructive imbecile in the White House... time.co…
@sethabramson Seth Abramson on bluesky
This is unreadable. He's incoherent. I don't think he successfully stated a single fact, answered a single question, or provided a single example of any point he wanted to make. Not that it was clear what points he wanted to make—because he was incoherent.
@socialmedialab.ca @socialmedialab.ca on bluesky
“Whatever AI Safety Is, It's Not This. Asking AI companies to self-regulate is a great way to pretend like you've accomplished something.” www.wired.com/story/whatev... [embedded post]
@bradfordpearson Bradford Pearson on bluesky
I encourage everyone to read this because it's stunning how completely incoherent he is. There's one section where the reporter is clearly talking about a past Fed interest rate hike and Trump thinks it just happened.
@crow.house.gov Rep. Jason Crow on bluesky
Americans do not want this war with Iran to “go further.” — They want it over. — I'm fighting to end it. — time.com/article/2026... [image]
@billkuchman Bill Kuchman on bluesky
Look, who knows these days, but I'm doubtful that the United States Secret Service told Trump that they “think the Oval Office should be taken down, and we'll build a new one, sir.” time.com/article/2026... [image]
@lovekat41 @lovekat41 on bluesky
🦇💩🤪 — It's time to take the keys away from Grandpa. — time.com/article/2026...
@okane.fyi Sean O'Kane on bluesky
this interview is like an accidental Chotining, it's breathtaking — time.com/article/2026...
@jfallows James Fallows on bluesky
Man who could order a nuclear attack. — From Eric Cortellessa TIME interview. time.com/article/2026... H/t @katzish.bsky.social [image]
@golikehellmachine.com @golikehellmachine.com on bluesky
read this and imagine what they had to clean up
@justinbaragona Justin Baragona on bluesky
Of course Natalie Harp was in the room during Trump's interview with Time. — time.com/article/2026... [image]
@clarajeffery Clara Jeffery on bluesky
We know he's an addled madman, but still horrifying to have it printed out for you. time.com/article/2026...
r/politics r on reddit
Read the Full Transcript of Donald Trump's 2026 Interview With TIME
r/centrist r on reddit
TIME's ‘What Trump Has Built’ interview Transcript.
r/alaska r on reddit
Any idea what project Trump nationalized in Alaska?
r/ConservativeNewsWeb r on reddit
President Trump is right. Children born to surrogates are “babies of slaves” because surrogacy is slavery. …
@urocklive1 @urocklive1 on bluesky
Oh good grief. I read the @time.com article earlier, and that was bad enough, but check out the transcript of the whole interview. It's like a distracted, mendacious dementia patient with ADHD. Unbelievable that this man is in charge of our country. — time.com/article/2026..…
@happiestfunrock Hanna on bluesky
the funniest thing about this interview is that the interviewers keep asking increasingly consequential questions about war, debt, courts, elections and executive power, while trump keeps trying to establish that the white house has nicer wood now
@rikefranke.eu Ulrike Franke on bluesky
It's as bad as you would expect it to be. — time.com/article/2026...
@ladyfluffyorca @ladyfluffyorca on bluesky
Read it at your peril, your brain will — never be the same! — time.com/article/2026...

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