From Mother Jones · Anna Merlan · · 3m
Trump's masculine obsession with AI dominance
The Trump administration frames AI as a tool only strong men can control, turning a tech debate into a gender culture war.
In brief
The Trump administration frames AI as a tool only strong men can control, turning a tech debate into a gender culture war. Trump and his team have weaponized masculinity rhetoric to dismiss AI safety concerns and position themselves as the only ones capable of wielding this powerful technology. Originally reported by…
AI experts warn of existential risk
Leaders from Anthropic, OpenAI, and even Elon Musk have called for slowing AI development, citing potential dangers to humanity.
Trump frames AI as masculine dominance
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth view AI as a powerful tool that only a strong leader can control, using words like 'dominant' repeatedly.
Trump dismisses AI safety as a hoax
Trump called warnings about AI harm 'a hoax' and claimed the only guardrails needed are a 'strong and smart president' like himself.
“the "only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT"”
Trump compares AI warnings to climate denial
Trump grouped AI safety advocates with climate change believers, calling both groups 'revolutionaries for a bad and evil cause' working against US interests.
Trump promises to appoint an AI czar
Trump announced plans to hire an 'AI czar' requiring 'only high I.Q. individuals,' framing AI as the next industrial revolution.
“Only High I.Q. individuals need apply! AI is the next Industrial Revolution”
Trump tries to rebrand AI entirely
Trump polled followers on renaming AI to 'Superior Intelligence,' 'Extreme Intelligence,' or 'Supreme Intelligence' for a more flattering description.
Post links AI critics to effective altruism
The New York Post connected AI safety advocates like Dario Amodei to effective altruism, a philosophy focused on maximizing charitable impact through calculation.
Effective altruism faces credibility problems
The movement's credibility was damaged by association with imprisoned fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and comparisons to high-control groups and cults.
Right-wing media attacks AI critics as woke
Conservative outlets portrayed effective altruism as a 'woke' movement of 'globalists' pushing open borders and genderless pronouns, framing AI critics as untrustworthy.
Critics attacked for sexual associations
The Post published a story about AI critic Nate Soares' romantic partner, a sex writer with OnlyFans, to paint him as sexually deviant and untrustworthy rather than addressing his actual ideas.
Pentagon joins the gender-based attacks
The Defense Department's Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering attacked effective altruism as un-American, with Emil Michael calling it a 'death-cult-like philosophy.'
Tech shifted from connection to extraction
Stanford professor Fred Turner notes that early internet developers wanted to create connections, but now the industry focuses on monitoring and reselling every bit of social interaction and knowledge.
“The value comes from monitoring, measuring, mapping, and reselling every bit of our social interaction”
Trump uses masculinity to assert dominance
Turner argues Trump transforms policy debates into displays of masculine dominance, which scares enemies, recruits allies, and draws supporters to his side.
AI debate obscures real policy questions
By framing AI through gender and sexuality, the administration muddles legitimate questions about land use, water consumption, electricity, and profitability.
“turning a debate about technology into a debate about who's got the phallus”
At a glance
Trump and his team have weaponized masculinity rhetoric to dismiss AI safety concerns and position themselves as the only ones capable of wielding this powerful technology.
