Trump rejects UN AI pacts to build American AI Force
- Trump rejected UN AI safety treaties and proposed a domestic AI Force to counter China.
- Silicon Valley remains split between safety mandates from Anthropic and chip expansion from Nvidia.
- White House officials insist domestic growth outweighs risks of unmonitored technology deployment.
Donald Trump is rewriting American technology policy around national strength.
Speaking before the United Nations, Trump formally rejected international AI safety pacts and rebranded artificial intelligence as national superintelligence. To secure American dominance over China, Trump proposed creating a domestic AI Force overseen by a federal AI czar. White House advisor Michael Kratios reinforced the sovereign posture, claiming regulatory overreach poses a far greater danger to liberty and growth than rapid technological deployment.
On Bitcoin And, host David Bennett criticized the AI Force plan for lacking basic substance. White House officials offered no clarification on whether the initiative would operate as a military branch, a cabinet department, or a civilian agency. Despite the vagueness, Trump made clear the United States will pursue permissionless development monitored internally by the Department of Justice, ignoring a 20-country safety proposal led by Finland.
"Trump pitched the idea alongside a federal AI czar, promising to outpace foreign rivals without adding red tape."
- David Bennett, Bitcoin And
The policy shift has exposed deep fault lines across Silicon Valley. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei addressed the UN Security Council to plead for binding global treaties, mandatory model testing, and international verification systems to prevent catastrophic misuse. Yet Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang pushed back against compute limits, arguing that hardware restrictions merely dent sales while foreign rivals advance.
"Anthropic chief Dario Amadei urged binding treaties, global model testing standards, and mandatory verification systems to prevent catastrophic misuse."
- Nathaniel Whittemore, The AI Daily Brief
Even as figures like Sam Altman and Elon Musk began floating calls for a development slowdown, Trump explicitly shut down the debate. Speaking on TFTC, host Marty Bent argued that executive calls for a pause look less like genuine safety panic and more like an effort to delay public market debuts. Trump views data centers as vital for national power, insisting the U.S. must accelerate compute capacity to defeat China.
The global consensus on AI safety has fractured beyond repair. With Washington treating compute as raw national power, international governance is officially stalled.
Source Intelligence
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Marty Bent
Ten31 Timestamp: Revenge of the Nerds • Sep 21
- Donald Trump rejected calls for an AI slowdown, framing the technology as a critical element of geopolitical competition with China. Trump pledged to accelerate domestic compute capacity and data center development rather than yield ground.
Also discussed on this episode: (11)
Safety (1)
- Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk coordinated calls to slow AI frontier development. Marty Bent argues this serves as a cynical play to establish regulatory moats or secure liability shields rather than a genuine safety concern.
Enterprise (1)
- Marty Bent highlights that law firm Latham and Watkins refused to use OpenAI and Anthropic models to protect their intellectual property. The firm opted instead to purchase hardware and self-host open-weight alternatives.
Energy (3)
- Shanghai crude has dislocated from WTI as China aggressively returns to global oil markets. This shift follows pipeline attacks in Saudi Arabia that forced the country to reroute crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz.
- Saudi Arabia pivoted to sending more oil through the Strait of Hormuz after the East-West pipeline shutdown. Rory Johnson reports that seven-day average flows through the waterway rose to nearly 12 million barrels per day.
- High US diesel prices of $6.31 per gallon are straining the domestic logistics sector, prompting JB Hunt to project a 5% to 10% earnings drop. Senator John Thune floated a temporary diesel export ban to mitigate consumer pressure.
Fed (3)
- The Atlanta Fed estimated third-quarter GDP growth at 5.1%, which would represent the highest non-pandemic expansion rate since late 2021. This rapid growth occurs alongside historically elevated diesel prices and tight monetary policy.
- Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh raised interest rates by 25 basis points, drawing criticism from Donald Trump. Trump publicly demanded a benchmark interest rate of 1% or less, arguing the US deserves cheap funding.
- The 10-year Treasury yield hovered near 5% following the Federal Reserve rate hike. Despite high yields, the Move Index remains low, showing the Treasury has successfully managed market volatility during the bond sell-off.
Trade (1)
- The US advanced the Sanctioning Russia Act to enable 100% tariffs on buyers of Russian oil, targeting China and India. Additionally, the US secured exclusive security and military rights in Greenland through a bilateral agreement with Denmark.
Nation-State (1)
- The American Reserve Modernization Act cleared the House Financial Services Committee, moving to codify Bitcoin as a strategic national reserve asset. This progress occurred in the same week the Clarity Act failed in the Senate.
BTC Markets (1)
- Despite macro headwinds, interest rate hikes, and geopolitical stress, Bitcoin broke above its 50-week moving average. Marty Bent views this price strength as confirmation of Bitcoin's utility as a neutral asset in a multipolar world.