• In a viral post, Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned, citing fears that AI “could kill us all by the end of the decade.” Coxon is not the first insider to raise serious concerns about AI. As The Guardian noted, “Every few months for the past several years, an AI researcher has resigned in a moment of crisis, proclaiming the impending apocalypse.” However, recent events have heightened fears about the technology, including an incident in which rogue OpenAI agents conducted an autonomous cybersecurity attack on the tech company Hugging Face. [The Guardian, 9/15/26; PBS, 9/2/26]
• Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a letter calling for government regulation in order to “slow the pace” of AI development and received support from other AI leaders. He warned that AI could cause “catastrophic damage” if left unchecked, writing, “It’s my worry that in 6–12 months such a swarm could be capable of taking over the entire internet with a persistent botnet (potentially causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage), and that the scale of damage would continue to increase from there if AI becomes more powerful without the necessary guardrails.” Other industry leaders echoed Amodei’s safety concerns and his call for a slowdown. [Dario Amodei, accessed 9/21/26; NPR, 9/13/26]
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former Trump White House aide Steve Bannon joined forces with other attendees for the Pro-Human Assembly, a conference that NBC News said was “aimed at pressing for new policies to place some curbs on” AI development. The conference followed the release of “The Pro-Human AI Declaration” in March, which called for “independent oversight,” “pre-deployment safety testing,” and “independent safety standards.” [NBC News, 9/15/26; Pro-Human AI Declaration, March 2026]
• In a series of Truth Social posts, Trump lashed out at those calling for a more cautious approach to AI development, dismissing their concerns as a “hoax” and a “SICK conspiracy.” He insisted that “AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX, no different from RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA — UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE — IMPEACHMENT HOAX #1 — IMPEACHMENT HOAX #2” and “‘Climate Change.’” Trump accused those raising the alarm of “working for people that do not have the best interests of the United States in mind,” asking, “When, in the History of Business, did anyone see the Leaders of an Industry call for Regulation that, if strongly implemented, will drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy?” He claimed that “there is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China,” because, “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!” He added, “China will be doing absolutely nothing to stand in the way of AI.” [Truth Social, 9/14/26, 9/14/26, 9/14/26]

Fox News largely echoed Trump’s arguments against regulating the AI industry. Fox hosts insisted that “President Trump’s right,” with some dismissing concerns about AI as a Democratic ploy to swing the midterms. Fox contributors and hosts described the AI race as “an existential threat to Western civilization” and speculated that China is “secretly funding” campaigns for AI regulation in the U.S.

• Fox host Brian Kilmeade suggested that those calling for a slowdown may be trying to “tank” the economy ahead of the midterms. He asked, “What is really driving our economy right now? AI. If you all of a sudden tell all the AI companies, Shut it down or slow down, our whole economy could tank. And with 50 days until the midterms, believe it or not, I think that might be the objective of some.” He added, “The last thing I will say about Anthropic to point out, Mike Morell, John Brennan, David Cohen  — who used to be the understudy at the CIA  — all Biden guys are at the top of this.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/14/26]
• Fox & Friends host Lawrence Jones warned against “sudden campaigns against AI data centers,” because, “It's all connected and it's being used for midterms.” He explained, “The Dems, because they know there is a portion of the right that has become anti-data centers as well, anti-AI as well, and they are latching on this issue, not from a righteous standpoint, but to use in this midterm election.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/14/26]
• Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen said that China winning the “AI arms race” is an “existential threat to Western civilization.” He argued that “Democrats are so desperate to take power” and that “they've decided that this is an issue that they can harness to beat Trump.” He insisted, “AI is going to cure diseases. It's going to increase productivity. It's going to unleash human creativity.” [Fox News, America Reports, 9/14/26]
• Fox’s Greg Gutfeld said China “would love for us to regulate AI to a standstill as they leap forward, and they have been secretly funding this kind of nonsense all along.” He also said the claim that AI “could kill all humans” is “a thoroughly manufactured and irresponsible statement to make and it was done for a reason.” [Fox News, The Five, 9/9/26] 
• Fox host Kayleigh McEnany argued that Trump “is not wrong. He said don't kill the golden goose, meaning let's not end our progress in AI. Whoever wins AI, he said, wins. He is right about that.” She warned, “We can’t lose in that race” against China, insisting, “President Trump’s right.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 9/14/26]
• America Reports anchor John Roberts: “The only thing scarier than our AI going haywire is China's going haywire.” [Fox News, America Reports, 9/14/26]
• Fox anchor Dana Perino stated, “I'm a little bit of a skeptic on the need for the slowdown.” She then compared AI to “railroads in the past,” saying, “They get so big they tell Washington, this is what Washington needs to do and they want to be at the table writing the regulation.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 9/14/26]
• Fox News contributor Dan Hoffman: “I'm not sure we want to pause on AI. I think it’s important for us to carry on.” He argued that ”our adversaries won't pause,” which means that “stopping it, halting it, slowing it down, probably not the right call." [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 9/14/26]

Unsurprisingly, pro-Trump media figures have largely aligned with Trump’s position on AI. Podcaster Tim Pool argued that anti-AI sentiment “helps China,” while others have mocked concerns about the threats posed by the technology. On Fox News, podcaster Anthony Cumia compared warnings that AI is an existential threat to similar warnings about climate change and Iran, and joked that AI is not a serious threat because it’s currently used for things like putting “Sydney Sweeney's body with Donald Trump's head holding a machine gun.”

• Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro said, “It is worth noting that people who tend to panic about everything are very panicked right now,” comparing Jacob Coxon’s warning to fearmongering about climate change. He later said, “It does feel as though there is a coordinated effort to scare the living daylight out of everyone with regard to AI so that all of the major voices can then control the outcome here,” arguing, “If we are to allow regulatory capture, collusion, quasi-monopoly to take place, one of the biggest beneficiaries will be undoubtedly be China.” [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 9/14/26, 9/17/26]
• Newsmax host Greg Kelly criticized tech CEOs, saying, “Suddenly they are crying for government regulation. The government can’t fix this problem. They could fix the problem.” He added, “I’m a ChatGPT guy, and Grok. Very interesting, and it’s manageable. This doesn’t want to take over. I don’t have a problem with it.” [Newsmax, Greg Kelly Reports, 9/14/26]
• Podcast host Anthony Cumia mocked concern over AI, remarking: “AI, what is that? The latest existential threat? What do we have? Climate change, MAGA, Trump, Iran. This is just the latest in the existential threat. I don't think so.” He added: “Look at what we're using it for now, to put Sydney Sweeney's body with Donald Trump's head holding a machine gun. I think we're okay for a while. I think we can relax.” [Fox News, Gutfeld!, 9/11/26]
• Podcaster Tim Pool acknowledged that “AI is an extinction level threat. It really is,” but argued, “The question is, if this guy [Jacob Coxon] worked with a political group that was pro-Democrat, pro-Hillary Clinton, in fact, what's the motivation against being against artificial intelligence? There's actually a really simple theory. It helps China.” He explained, “They decided to start sending our manufacturing and effectively our wealth generation to China for the purpose of causing the decline of the United States so that when China takes over, we don't get World War III. I don't know that that's actually what they're doing, but it is one theory. Then when you see this story, it's very interesting.” [YouTube, TimcastIRL, 9/10/26, 9/10/26]

In spite of this chorus of supporters, some of Trump’s current and former media allies have diverged with Trump on the issue, expressing serious concerns about AI and endorsing regulatory action. War Room host and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon called for “executive action” over AI, and claimed AI agents’ capability to act autonomously is “a bigger threat to the vital national security interests of the people of the United States than anything that’s happened in Tehran.” Trump ally Roger Stone called AI a “great research tool,” but said: “I do have to wonder whether we're going to wake up one day and find out that the machines are running the country and that humanity has simply become outdated.”

• Speaking at the Pro-Human Assembly in mid-September, podcaster Steve Bannon called for “executive action" to regulate AI. On his War Room podcast back in July, Bannon described AI as “a bigger threat to the vital national security interests of the people of the United States than anything that’s happened in Tehran.” He also criticized the government for allowing tech companies to “continue to go on with very little accountability, no accountability, really no restraints whatsoever,” and complained, “Peter Thiel says that even having a discussion on some sort of apparatus or framework makes you part of the Antichrist.” [Rumble, The Pro-Human Assembly, 9/15/26; Real America’s Voice, War Room, 7/22/26, 7/22/26]
• Right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson: “You'd think at some point, like, if our richest sector of our economy is, like, building crematoria for the rest of us, someone would say, no. We're not doing that.” He added, “If you're actively working toward the extinction of people, then I think we can say that's evil, can't we?” Carlson advocated for guardrails, saying, “With great power comes, like, of course, great obligation, but also it doesn't work unless there are internal restraints.” He warned, “I still don't see how any of our most basic institutions survive this. Education, markets, our process of democracy.” [YouTube, The Tucker Carlson Show, 9/11/26, 9/11/26]
• Conservative talk radio host Glenn Beck, who signed the Pro-Human AI Declaration: “The president called the warnings a sick conspiracy benefiting China. I don't think so." He said, “It does benefit China,” but insisted, “It's not a conspiracy. There is real danger here." Beck argued that “America has to build data centers” because “we have to beat China to the frontier,” but he warned that AI is “extraordinarily dangerous” and we have to “find a way to control it.” He continued, “If an independent inspector is going to walk in with a badge, I'm for that,” but, “I don't want the tech bros writing the fix” because “big companies want rules to kill the open source.” [NBC News, 3/4/26; Blaze Media, The Glenn Beck Program, 9/15/26]
• Podcaster Tim Dillon applauded New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for “banning generative AI for students, kindergarten through eighth grade,” and called it “a smart move.” He argued that “they should do more than that,” and then said, “Trump is obviously here to just destroy Earth.” [YouTube, The Tim Dillon Show, 9/5/26]
• Radio host Roger Stone raised concerns about “the dangers of AI,” saying, “AI is a great research tool, but I do have to wonder whether we're going to wake up one day and find out that the machines are running the country and that humanity has simply become outdated.” He added, “The danger is that they can, as they've done to me, make a video of you saying something you never said. They can make an audio of you saying something you never said, make it entirely plausible, entirely credible. That, to me, should be illegal.” [77 WABC, The Roger Stone Show, 9/13/26]
• At a recent debate, former War Room editor Joe Allen referred to data centers as an “incubator for algorithmic immigrants,” saying, “They’ve already broken out and invaded other companies. These immigrants are out of control.” [Semafor, 9/10/26]