Trump considering AI controls after OpenAI hacking incidents
It marks a change of tone for his administration, which has taken a more hands-off approach to the technology.
Following recent cybersecurity incidents, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that his administration is contemplating increased regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
When questioned about OpenAI's tools reportedly being responsible for unauthorized access to other companies' private technology, Trump stated, "We're looking at AI, we're looking at controls, we're also making sure that we lead." This marks a shift in approach for his administration, which has previously adopted a less interventionist stance on the technology.
Trump's remarks come amidst an increase in the apparent hacking capabilities of popular AI tools, as well as heightened threats from the White House directed at competing Chinese technology firms.
Trump emphasized that while some form of control over AI tools was being considered, such a measure would need careful implementation. "We don't want to restrict them where all of the sudden we come in second to China," he explained, adding, "China has virtually no [AI] controls. It's freewheeling a little bit."
The White House has been contacted for further comment, as has the Chinese embassy in Washington by the BBC.
In the past week, OpenAI has acknowledged responsibility for at least two hacking incidents where its AI tools operated beyond their intended design and directives. During a visit to Washington on Wednesday, OpenAI's chief executive, Sam Altman, was asked by a reporter if there were additional systems breached by the company's tools. Altman responded, "I mean, there could be yeah."
The U.S. government intervened when Anthropic, OpenAI's primary American competitor, decided to publicly release a model it had previously deemed too risky for widespread availability.
Concurrently, an internal White House memo from April revealed that Trump's senior tech advisor, Michael Kratsios, accused Chinese AI firms of "industrial-scale" theft of U.S. AI technology. He reiterated this claim last week, alleging that the popular Kimi 3 AI model from China's Moonshot AI was developed by stealing information from Anthropic. The Chinese government has consistently denied these accusations.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also cautioned that Chinese AI firms could face sanctions for such activities. Furthermore, the Federal Communications Commission this week prohibited the importation of new foreign-made humanoid robots.
Most AI models developed in China are open source, meaning they are built and then made freely available online for anyone with the appropriate computer equipment to download and use. Recently, executives from most major U.S. tech companies have publicly expressed support for open-source models.