U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his desire to avoid regulations that could hinder American artificial intelligence (AI) companies in their competition with China.

According to Bloomberg, President Trump said in an interview with CNBC at the White House on July 2 (local time) regarding AI regulation, "We need some safety guardrails, but I want to keep it as minimal as possible."

He added, "If we determine that there is a bad player and it is a bit dangerous, we block that player quickly and effectively," noting that there had been such a case recently, though he did not disclose the identity of the party involved.

The U.S. federal government recently clashed with AI company Anthropic over access to its AI models.

On June 12, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued an export control order prohibiting foreigners from accessing Anthropic's top-tier AI models, 'Mythos 5' and 'Fable 5', citing them as threats to national security.

The export control measures were lifted 18 days later.

Bloomberg reported that despite the reversal of the export controls, the move shocked Silicon Valley as it differed from the laissez-faire approach the Trump administration had previously taken toward AI regulation.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported on the same day that OpenAI is in detailed discussions about transferring a 5% stake to the Trump administration.

When asked about the report, President Trump avoided a direct answer, instead mentioning the U.S. government's acquisition of a 10% stake in Intel last year.

He has repeatedly emphasized that the acquisition of the Intel stake has provided significant financial gains for U.S. taxpayers.

Last month, President Trump also stated that he is exploring ways for the government to secure stakes in major AI companies, arguing that leading AI firms should return benefits to the public.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)