Trump at the UN General Assembly 'totally rejects' any global scheme to control AI and renames it 'super intelligence'
In his Sept 22, 2026 UN General Assembly speech, Trump said the US "totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control" AI. He compared AI-risk warnings to climate warnings and said he would not "stifle growth". He also said he prefers "super intelligence" to "artificial" intelligence. The next day Altman and Amodei asked the Security Council for international standards.
Key facts
- Quote: 'The United States ... totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control for the artificial intelligence being spoken of so much now'
- Compared AI warnings to 'the very same people who said we'll all be dead in 12 years because of global warming'
- 'Artificial… makes it sound fake'; beforehand he ran a Truth Social poll on renaming AI ('Superior', 'Extreme' or 'Supreme Intelligence')
- 'I'm not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the industrial revolution'
- On Sept 14 he had called AI-extinction fears a 'HOAX' on Truth Social
- Semafor (Sept 25): the US stood alone at the UN in dismissing AI safety concerns, leaving other nations to set nonbinding rules without the home of the largest AI companies
What happened
Speaking at the 81st UNGA, Trump set out a clear US position against international AI oversight bodies. This came as 22 countries and the UN Secretary-General were proposing exactly such an institution.
Why it matters
It frames the split of Sept 2026: labs and much of the world asking for international machinery, and the US government refusing it. Days later, the US still agreed a bilateral incident channel with China.
Changelog
- 2026-09-29: created
- 2026-09-29: sweep 2026-09-29: added Verge, FT and Semafor coverage; linked the Sept 19 AI Force/czar post and the UN weapons-text entry
Related events
- Altman and Amodei ask the UN Security Council for international AI standards and incident reporting ★★★★
- 22 countries back Finnish President Stubb's declaration to keep AI under human control and explore an international AI institution ★★★★
- US and China agree a 'Super Intelligence (SI) Dialogue' and an SI-incident hotline during Xi's state visit ★★★★
- Trump says he will form an 'AI Force' and name an AI czar, while calling AI-safety fears a 'hoax' ★★★
- US and Russia strip human review of AI-selected targets from the draft UN autonomous-weapons text ★★★
- UK PM Andy Burnham says the UK will use its 2027 G20 presidency to broker a global AI agreement ★★
- White House asks OpenAI and Anthropic to hold new models back from the UK AI Security Institute until the US reviews them ★★★★
- Trump hosts AI and tech CEOs at a White House lunch on AI oversight ★★★★
Sources (7)
- pressScientific American: Trump rejects AI regulation, citing parallels with climate change
- pressFortune: Trump UN 'globalist scheme' remarks vs Altman/Amodei at the Security Council
- pressFox Business: Trump rebrands AI, rejects globalist scheme
- pressNBC News: Trump rejects AI guardrails (Sept 14 'hoax' post)
- pressThe Verge: Trump says the US is renaming AI 'super intelligence'
- pressFT: Trump rejects 'globalist scheme to control' AI at UN
- pressSemafor: White House is isolated in brushing off AI safety
id: 2026-09-22-trump-unga-rejects-global-ai-control · updated 2026-09-29 · open in the interactive timeline