Trump’s AI Force could make AI’s risks worse. Here’s what to do instead

Artificial intelligence dominated the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 22, 2026. Ahead of the meeting, 20 nations released a statement requesting “human direction, oversight and control” of AI. The U.S. was not among them. This followed several calls from within the industry itself. Earlier in September, an Anthropic researcher put the odds that AI kills all humans within the next decade at more than 10%. Days later, Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, published an essay asking the government to help slow frontier AI. His request was backed by Elon Musk and OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman. In a Truth Social post on September 19, President Donald Trump instead announced he would create an AI Force—similar to the Space Force created during his first administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Air Force. He also plans to appoint an AI czar. Trump offered few details on either plan, beyond a promise that the government would “not in any way hinder or stifle” AI’s growth. With the federal government reluctant to rein in AI, California, Colorado, Texas, and other states have stepped in. California and New York, for example, have passed laws requiring the l…