Trump Says AI Concerns Are Fiction After Secret Meeting with Altman

Sam Altman met privately with President Donald Trump at last week's Republican National Convention's back stage. Days later, Trump told a crowd that concerns about AI safety were fictional.

Three sources familiar with the meeting said Altman personally requested the one-on-one talk. A brief summary indicated they discussed how much influence AI currently holds.

Publicly dismissing concerns as fiction, privately arranging a secret meeting

This moment presents an awkward situation for Trump's messaging. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged developers to slow down next steps in model capabilities over the weekend. Altman joined Elon Musk in supporting such industry slowdown efforts.

Trump dismissed these warnings all week. On Monday, he personally called Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during the All In Summit for Silicon Valley investors. In front of investors, he reiterated his view that concerns were fictional.

However, Nvidia shares dropped 3% that day. Chip stocks also fell broadly as investors worried about potential slowdowns in AI spending, regardless of Trump's positive comments.

Investors face an unignorable contradiction

Trump claims AI worries are manufactured. But why would top industry executives seek a private meeting with the president? Additionally, Trump asserts strong authority over AI companies, which contradicts his dismissal of risks as fiction.

Vice President Kamala Harris expressed skepticism toward AI executives calling for government regulation. This skeptical stance complicates messaging ahead of next week's Trump-Xi Jinping summit.

The White House and OpenAI have not disclosed what was discussed at the back stage meeting, leaving a gap between Trump's public dismissal and private encounter unresolved.