Trump calls data centre backlash a ‘hoax’ in call with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang; rules out AI slowdown debate

Over the past few days, we have been seeing debate about AI slowdown amid rapid growth of technology and growing concerns of its going out of hand. Over the weekend, we saw AI researchers talking about the potential risks of superintelligence and whether the rapid pace of AI development could pose a threat to human existence.

Tech leaders from companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, and others also joined the debate, urging an AI slowdown. Recently, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei shared an essay, revealing misuse and concerns about frontier models, and urged the industry to slow down development. However, US President Donald Trump rejects AI slowdown claims, saying that “We're leading China on AI... and, frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins.”

Must read: ‘We're leading China on AI': Trump rejects calls to slow down AI as US races ahead of China

Trump rejects data centre criticism

There's a video of Huang that has been circulating on X, in which he's talking to the US president while live on stage. During an All-In Summit in Los Angeles, Jensen Huang received a call from Trump while he was addressing a live panel. During the call, Trump was put on speaker, where he said, ‘I’m telling you, it’s all a hoax,” about the data centre backlash. “The data centers are great, and they make people wealthy, and they make states wealthy.”

Must read: 'Don't kill the Golden Goose': Trump says US must keep its AI lead over China

The discussion also touched on Amodei’s call for the AI industry to “slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI.” While Elon Musk and Sam Altman have publicly supported the claims. However, Trump said the claims are a ‘hoax.” “They’re just playing right in the hands of a lot of people that don’t want to see it happen,” he added. 

“That could be political people. It could also be China. And we’re not going to let that happen. It’s a hoax.” Huang replied to Trump’s claims, saying, “You’re right. We’re not going to let that (AI slowdown) happen, sir.”

Trump supports the construction of AI data centres, which require large numbers of Nvidia GPUs to run AI systems. Now, the recent calls highlight their growing relations, with AI becoming increasingly important to the US economy. “I’m with you all the way,” Trump told Huang.