# The man behind Trump's rejection of AI safety

> David Sacks has clashed with safety advocates and shaped Trump's view that AI doomsday fears are a hoax.
- Title: The man behind Trump's rejection of AI safety · Vox | Shortify
- Summary: David Sacks has clashed with safety advocates and shaped Trump's view that AI doomsday fears are a hoax. David Sacks, a venture capitalist and Trump adviser…
- Keywords: david sacks, donald trump, ai safety, artificial intelligence, openai, anthropic, nvidia, jensen huang, mark zuckerberg, china, open source ai, venture capital
- Source: Vox — https://vox.com/politics/503140/david-sacks-trump-ai-safety-all-in-podcast-china
- Author: Andrew Prokop
- Published: 2026-09-18T10:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: david sacks, donald trump, ai safety, artificial intelligence, openai, anthropic, nvidia, jensen huang, mark zuckerberg, china, open source ai, venture capital
## Trump calls AI fears a hoax
As AI company leaders warn of catastrophic risks, Trump now dismisses AI doomsday concerns as a hoax. One adviser is driving this shift.
## Meet David Sacks
A venture capitalist from the PayPal Mafia, Sacks co-hosts the All-In podcast and advised Elon Musk on Twitter. He's Trump's AI and crypto czar.

> David Sacks. It's all coming from him.
## Sacks opposes AI regulation
His preferred approach is to "let them cook." He argues government intervention would squelch innovation and hurt America's competitive edge.

> It's this very libertarian approach to America winning in AI.
## Even AI CEOs want slowdowns
Leaders of OpenAI, Anthropic, and even Elon Musk have called for slowing advanced AI development due to safety dangers.
## Sacks dismisses safety warnings
He's called concerns from former Anthropic employees "doomer histrionics." If companies think their products are dangerous, that's on them, he says.

> If the unreleased models are scary enough that you think you should slow down, I support your decision to be responsible.
## He's critical of leading AI labs
Though seen as pro-AI, Sacks has been quite critical of the two biggest US AI companies, OpenAI and Anthropic themselves.
## The open weight AI vision
Sacks backs "open weight" AI where models are publicly available, not controlled by a few companies. Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Meta's Zuckerberg agree.

> Keeping innovation decentralized and accessible is the key to avoiding an unsafe and dystopian future.
## Who controls superintelligence
Zuckerberg asks: will advanced AI be centralized in a few institutions, or will it be a tool that empowers everyone?

> The defining questions of our age are who will have access to superintelligence and what will we direct it towards.
## Big money at stake
Nvidia wants more chip customers. Meta wants to lead open models. Venture capitalists like Sacks fund startups that benefit from cheaper AI alternatives.
## Open AI safety concerns
Critics warn bad actors like terrorists or rogue nations could strip safety features from open models and develop biological weapons.

> They can strip out safety features and guardrails, they can do some fine tuning to basically make the models even more dangerous.
## The regulation debate
Open AI advocates say heavy regulation would entrench OpenAI and Anthropic's dominance. They'd be better able to comply given their size.
## Strange political bedfellows
Left and right critics both suspect OpenAI and Anthropic want regulations to consolidate market power. Sacks agrees with former FTC chair Lina Khan on liability.

> These CEOs are going to be subject to massive civil and criminal liability if they put out products that are unsafe.
## Anthropic funds safety advocates
Sacks points out Anthropic gave $40 million to advocacy groups. He says the company is running a regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering.
## Selling chips to China
Despite AI race rhetoric, Trump blessed sales of Nvidia chips abroad, even to China. Sacks championed this over national security hawks' objections.
## Chinese open models dominate
Chinese companies like DeepSeek produce leading open weight models that US startups use. OpenAI and Anthropic want government scrutiny, but Trump hasn't acted.
## Sacks still has Trump's ear
At a live podcast event, Trump called in to say robots won't take over the world. Then he praised Sacks: "David has done an amazing job."

> The robots are not going to be taking over the world. That's not going to happen.
## Key takeaway

David Sacks, a venture capitalist and Trump adviser, has successfully pushed the president to reject AI safety regulations in favor of open development.