Trump frames unregulated AI as a way to keep ahead of China – but in fact, it harms US national security

President Trump has argued that AI regulation would hand China the advantage, posting ‘Whoever wins AI, WINS!’ and telling the United Nations his administration rejects any ‘globalist scheme’ to control the technology. The analysis here counters that unregulated AI growth in the U.S. poses its own security risk, citing Anthropic and Google reports of foreign actors in China, Russia, Iran and North Korea already using American AI models for cyberattacks, disinformation and weapons-related research.

The piece notes China uses distillation to train its own models off American ones, meaning a U.S. slowdown could also slow China rather than cede ground. About 8 in 10 Americans, across party lines, reportedly support more AI regulation, and China itself began regulating AI as early as 2021, undercutting the framing that oversight is a purely American self-defeat.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.