Trump AI czar David Sacks attacks Anthropic over regulatory “fear-mongering”

Tensions are escalating between the White House and Anthropic over AI regulation, with Trump’s “AI czar” David Sacks publicly accusing the company of “fear-mongering” to influence regulatory policy. The clash highlights a broader divide between the administration’s deregulatory approach and Anthropic’s more cautious stance on AI safety and oversight.

What happened: White House AI advisor David Sacks launched a direct attack on Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark after Clark published an essay defending the need for careful AI regulation.

• Sacks accused Anthropic of running “a sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering” that is “damaging the startup ecosystem.”
• The confrontation began after Clark wrote that AI represents “a real and mysterious creature, not a simple and predictable machine.”
• Sacks claimed Anthropic is “principally responsible for the state regulatory frenzy.”

The bigger picture: Anthropic has emerged as a notable holdout from the tech industry’s rush to align with the Trump administration’s AI policies.

• CEO Dario Amodei was conspicuously absent from Trump’s September dinner with tech leaders including Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI executives.
• The company has maintained strict limits on government use of its AI technology, reportedly rejecting federal law enforcement requests for domestic surveillance applications.
• Anthropic’s policies explicitly prohibit clients from using its AI for surveillance purposes.

Policy tensions: The dispute reflects deeper disagreements over the Trump administration’s approach to AI regulation.

• Amodei previously urged the White House to abandon efforts to limit AI regulation as part of its “One Big Beautiful Bill,” calling the approach “too blunt.”
• The legislation ultimately passed Congress without provisions that would have prevented states from enacting their own AI guardrails.
• Anthropic’s resistance contrasts sharply with other major AI companies that have been “scrambling to cozy up to the Trump administration.”

Why this matters: The public feud signals a potential regulatory battle that could shape how AI development and deployment are governed in the United States, with Anthropic positioning itself as a counterweight to the administration’s deregulatory agenda.