Trump to create AI force - as lawsuit claims firms illegally agreed to slow development

• The lawsuit, filed in US District Court for Northern District of California, centers on September 12 events when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay advocating industrywide cooperation to decelerate AI advancement for safety, with leaders from OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google publicly agreeing
• Claimants argue that agreements among chief AI rivals to slow progress have anticompetitive effects on consumers who pay for ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, or Gemini subscriptions
• Trump dismissed AI safety concerns as a 'hoax' earlier in the week, stating the only control needed is 'a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT', and suggested renaming AI to 'Superior Intelligence' or 'Extreme Intelligence'

Summary

President Donald Trump announced via social media on Saturday the creation of an "AI Force" to oversee AI regulation, pledging to appoint an AI "czar" soon. Trump emphasized the administration will not hinder industry growth but will "cherish it, help it, and watch over it."

The announcement follows a lawsuit filed Friday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California alleging Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google illegally coordinated to slow AI development, violating competition laws. The suit claims this agreement reduces value for consumers paying for AI subscriptions including ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Gemini.

The lawsuit centers on events from September 12, when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay advocating industry-wide cooperation to decelerate AI advancement for safety reasons. OpenAI's Sam Altman, SpaceXAI's Elon Musk, and Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis publicly agreed the same day.

Lead attorney Nick Rowley argued that allowing AI safety protocols to be "controlled by private self-serving agreements between the world's most powerful 'for profit' technology companies" could result in AI spinning out of human control. The four named claimants are paid subscribers seeking to represent a nationwide class.

Trump previously dismissed AI safety concerns as a "hoax" on Monday, rejecting guardrails and claiming the only control needed is "a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT." He also suggested renaming "AI" to "Superior Intelligence," "Extreme Intelligence," or "Supreme Intelligence."

None of the defendant companies immediately responded to requests for comment. The lawsuit follows warnings from an Anthropic safety researcher about significant AI risks in the coming decade.