US President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post on Saturday that he is creating an “AI Force” to oversee the regulation of artificial intelligence and will appoint an AI “czar” in the near future.

“We will not in any way hinder or stifle the growth of this incredible industry,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows! However, we will also be looking for bad, and we can do that, very easily, with our already existing criminal and civil justice System.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump earlier this week posted that a “sick conspiracy” has been created against AI and data centres. He brushed aside calls for new federal AI rules, saying the United States needs only a strong president to regulate the technology.

The US president also said liberals want the “decimation, or destruction, of AI”.

“I, as President of the United States, will not stand by and let this happen,” he wrote. “It all began with an attack on our data centres, until people realised how wealthy and prestigious they were for the communities in which they were built.”

US officials have said they will raise the topic of AI in talks with China as the US president prepares to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week.

Washington and Beijing view advances in AI as critical to their economic and military competitiveness, but they remain at odds over access to advanced chips, allegations of technology copying and regulation of the AI industry.

“AI is the next industrial revolution, or internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25 per cent of our country’s GDP,” Trump added in the post. “We are leading China, and the rest of the world, and I intend to keep it that way!”

The announcement came after leading figures in the AI industry urged pausing or slowing down the development of the technology.

Last week, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on Saturday called on artificial intelligence (AI) firms to slow down the development of the powerful technology, amid mounting worries over the risks of “superintelligent” computer systems.

OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Elon Musk, who owns xAI, quickly chimed in to say they agreed with Amodei’s assessment, as pressure builds for improved oversight.

“We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. Progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain,” Amodei wrote in a post on his personal website.

“Not building the technology deprives humanity of benefits or simply places AI in the hands of authoritarian powers, while building it too fast is reckless. We have sought a middle way,” said Amodei, who co-founded Anthropic with his sister Daniela in 2021. “But over the last few months, I have become convinced that fully addressing the risks requires even more prudence.”

Additional input from AFP