Two months ago he called AI fears a "hoax." Now, days after a midterm rout that rattled the AI trade, President Trump says he "doesn't mind guardrails," as long as America keeps its lead over China.
President Donald Trump said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview that aired on Sunday, November 8, that the risks of artificial intelligence can be managed and that he is open to safeguards on the technology, including working with Democrats on them. According to Reuters, Trump said he did not want regulations to put the United States in "a deep second position" behind China. The remarks mark a clear change in tone from a president who has mostly favored letting tech companies police themselves.
What Trump Said
The interview, conducted by Ross Douthat at the White House on Friday, was Trump's first sit-down since the midterm elections. In the official CBS News transcript, Douthat pointed out that some AI industry leaders publicly warn their own products could pose a risk to humanity, and asked why Trump was not worried.
Trump's answer focused on China. He argued that if the U.S. did not build the technology, China would, leaving America at a major disadvantage. He said the risk "is not nearly as real" as critics claim and "can be managed." When Douthat asked if he would work with Democrats on AI safety, Trump said he would, adding: "I don't mind guardrails. But I don't wanna put us in a deep second position." He also claimed China "has no guardrails," prompting Douthat to note that China does have the restrictions of a totalitarian state.
Trump also called himself an "AI bull" and said he prefers the term "super intelligence," because, in his words, it is not artificial. He said Chinese President Xi Jinping, who visited recently, is "all in" on the technology.
A Sharp Shift From September
The new language stands out because of how strongly Trump rejected the idea of AI rules just weeks ago. In mid-September, as several AI industry leaders called for more government oversight, Trump posted a string of messages calling AI doom fears a "HOAX" and claiming there was a "SICK conspiracy" against AI and data centers, CNN reported at the time. In one post he wrote that the only guardrails AI needs is a "STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT."
CNN also reported that Vice President JD Vance had questioned why AI companies were asking to be regulated, warning that it could be a "Trojan horse," while still saying the White House and Congress should work on guardrails. Republican congressional leaders at the time favored a "light touch" approach.
The September posts and Sunday's interview do share one consistent theme: Trump frames almost every AI decision as part of a race with China. What has changed is his willingness to say safeguards are acceptable at all.
The Political and Market Backdrop
Context matters here. Trump's Republican Party suffered heavy losses in the midterms on Tuesday, November 3, and CBS described the defeat as an "extraordinary midterm repudiation," with Republicans losing both chambers of Congress. Democrats have signaled that AI will be on their agenda. Rep. Ted Lieu, vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said his party will hold public hearings on AI and pass guardrails, Bloomberg Law reported.
Investors reacted quickly to that shift in power. On November 5, the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.5%, its deepest one-day drop since April 2025, as investors worried that new scrutiny could slow the construction of AI data centers, Reuters reported. The Nasdaq 100 lost about $2.5 trillion in market value that day, Nvidia fell 9% and AMD dropped 17%. UBS analysts estimated that around 30% of expected U.S. data center capacity additions in 2028 could be at risk from construction pauses, according to the same report.
What It Could Mean
This part is analysis, not fact: Trump's remarks do not come with any bill, executive order or agency rule. Reuters noted that it remains unclear what level of safeguards he would accept. But the tone matters. With Democrats preparing to take control of Congress, a president who says he "would absolutely" work with them on AI safety makes some form of federal legislation look more possible than it did a month ago.
The likely sticking point is the condition Trump attached. Any proposal that the White House sees as slowing American companies relative to Chinese rivals could still face resistance. Meanwhile, rules aimed at data center construction, which is where the market's fears are focused, are a different question from model-safety guardrails, and Trump has been a strong supporter of the data center buildout.
What to Watch Next
The new Congress has not yet been seated, and no dates have been set for the hearings Democrats have promised. The next signals will come from whether the White House offers specific proposals, how Democratic leaders respond to Trump's offer, and how AI stocks trade as investors weigh regulatory risk. AI is also likely to come up as Trump prepares to travel to China for meetings later this month. For the AI industry, the message from Sunday's interview is simple: the question is no longer whether there will be guardrails, but who writes them and how tight they will be.