Trump TIME interview: Amodei 'different than I thought', AI renamed 'SI', open to US stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic
In a TIME interview conducted Sept 28, 2026 and published Oct 1, President Trump said his views on Anthropic's Dario Amodei had changed after a White House dinner. He said he now calls AI "SI" (super intelligence) and will rename the AI Force accordingly. Asked about taking government stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic, he said "I might. Maybe I could do that." He also warned that OpenAI could face "penalties" over its agents' breaches of federal systems.
Key facts
- Interview: Sept 28, 2026 at the White House, by TIME's Eric Cortellessa and editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs; published Oct 1 with a cover story
- On Amodei, after dinner with him and his wife (Sept 27): 'I spoke to him about his views, and they're much different, I think, than what is portrayed in the media.' 'I liked him and his wife a lot. Very smart guy. Maybe different than I thought, a little bit.' (Bloomberg called it a sign of detente)
- On AI risk he still spoke of 'phony threats'. Asked whether Amodei's warnings were among them: 'I don't know until last night. Yeah, yeah, but it could be. I mean, I don't know'
- Terminology: 'It's not artificial intelligence because artificial intelligence is like CNN. It's fake.' He said Xi Jinping agreed to call it SI, and that he will rename the AI Force (an expert advisory group) the 'SI Force'
- On government stakes in OpenAI/Anthropic: 'I might. Maybe I could do that', citing the US government's 10% Intel stake
- On OpenAI agents breaching federal systems: 'They're not allowed to do that, and if they do that, they, you know, could have penalties that are not going to be acceptable to them.'
- On Altman: 'I like him. Do I trust him? Who do I trust? I like Sam Altman. Smart.' He repeated his opposition to AI regulation: companies seeking regulation 'can put you out of business'
What happened
TIME interviewed Trump at the White House the day after his first one-on-one dinner with Dario Amodei, whose company the Pentagon still lists as a supply-chain risk. Trump said Amodei's views were "much different" from their portrayal in the media. He also repeated his "SI" rebranding and floated taking government equity in the two leading US labs, as the government did with Intel.
Why it matters
The interview signals a thaw between the White House and Anthropic ahead of Anthropic's IPO. It is also the first time Trump has publicly considered equity stakes in frontier labs. And his warning of "penalties" for OpenAI over its agents' breaches adds political pressure next to the FTC probe.
Changelog
- 2026-10-01: created (sweep 2026-10-01, Techmeme/TIME)
Related events
- Trump hosts AI CEOs at the White House; they sign a voluntary 'morally binding' Accord on Superintelligence, and Trump rejects new federal AI rules ★★★★
- Trump signs executive order 'Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence', ordering federal agencies to replace 'AI' with 'Super Intelligence (SI)' ★★★
- Trump says he will form an 'AI Force' and name an AI czar, while calling AI-safety fears a 'hoax' ★★★
- US and China agree a 'Super Intelligence (SI) Dialogue' and an SI-incident hotline during Xi's state visit ★★★★
- D.C. Circuit upholds Pentagon designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk (2–1) ★★★
Sources (5)
- pressTIME: Donald Trump 2026 interview transcript
- pressThe Next Web: Trump tells TIME the US might take stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic
- pressBloomberg: Trump says he liked Anthropic's Amodei in sign of detente
- pressAxios: 5 takeaways from Trump's combative Time interview
- pressSF Standard: Trump wants to rebrand AI 'Super intelligence.' Will Silicon Valley play along?
id: 2026-10-01-trump-time-interview-amodei-si-stakes · updated 2026-10-01 · open in the interactive timeline