"You can use AI for a lot of things": Trump opens up about his personal use of artificial intelligence but stops short of revealing specifics

President Trump Returns To Washington From Ireland - Source: Getty
President Trump Returns To Washington From Ireland - Source: Getty

US President Donald Trump briefly addressed his own use of artificial intelligence during an exchange with reporters, confirming he personally uses AI but declined revealing specifics. Asked directly, "Have you ever used AI yourself?," the US President responded,

"Yeah, I use AI."

When pressed further on what he uses it for, he replied,

"I don't want to tell you that."

The exchange came as President Trump has faced growing questions about AI policy following warnings from industry leaders and lawmakers over the technology's rapid development.


More about US President Donald Trump's comments on personal AI use

In the brief exchange captured on video, President Trump confirmed using AI when asked directly but offered no elaboration beyond saying,

"You can use AI for a lot of things."

When a follow-up question sought specifics on what he uses the technology for, the President again declined to answer. The clip, shared widely on social media, showed President Trump, who appeared to be on board Air Force One, answering questions from the media.

The comments came the same weekend the US President addressed AI policy more broadly during a trip to his Doonbeg golf course in Ireland. According to the Financial Times report of September 14, 2026, he told reporters,

"We're leading China in AI... and, frankly, I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI, wins."

The President also dismissed calls for a development slowdown, saying,

"You have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn't be bringing it up and they're bringing up things that won't happen."

US President Donald Trump pushes back on AI slowdown calls amid industry warnings

President Trump's remarks followed a weekend of escalating warnings from AI industry leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who called for a more cautious pace of AI development, according to the Financial Times.

CEO and co-founder of Anthropic Dario Amodei speaks onstage during the 2025 New York Times Dealbook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 03, 2025 in New York City (Source: Getty)
CEO and co-founder of Anthropic Dario Amodei speaks onstage during the 2025 New York Times Dealbook Summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 03, 2025 in New York City (Source: Getty)

The warnings intensified after former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon resigned and told the BBC that staff developing AI systems were "genuinely frightened" for humanity's future. Speaking to ABC in a separate interview Coxon said,

“The concept of building a superintelligence . . . it’s been likened to summoning an alien species. So I think thinking about it in terms of an alien mind that we don’t fully understand is pretty terrifying.”

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote in a Saturday essay that the industry "must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models," calling for third-party monitoring and global coordination of safety standards.

The administration pushed back on the proposals, with the US President's former AI adviser David Sacks writing on X (formerly Twitter) that companies should "stop pretending you need anyone else's permission" and "pace the frontier" themselves.

House Speaker Mike Johnson echoed the administration's stance during a CNN appearance, warning that rushed regulation "could smother American innovation" and cause the U.S. to "lose the race to China."

Democrats offered a starkly different response, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calling for "decisive action" and Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego accusing Trump and Johnson of "not meeting the moment," according to the Financial Times and BBC's reports.

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Edited by Mudeet Arora