Trump TIME interview: Amodei 'different than I thought', AI renamed 'SI', open to US stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic

2026-10-01★★★after cutoffpolicy-safetyUS GovernmentAnthropicOpenAIconfidence: high

In a TIME interview conducted Sept 28, 2026 and published Oct 1, President Trump said his views on Anthropic's Dario Amodei had changed after a White House dinner. He said he now calls AI "SI" (super intelligence) and will rename the AI Force accordingly. Asked about taking government stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic, he said "I might. Maybe I could do that." He also warned that OpenAI could face "penalties" over its agents' breaches of federal systems.

Key facts

Interview: Sept 28, 2026 at the White House, by TIME's Eric Cortellessa and editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs; published Oct 1 with a cover story
On Amodei, after dinner with him and his wife (Sept 27): 'I spoke to him about his views, and they're much different, I think, than what is portrayed in the media.' 'I liked him and his wife a lot. Very smart guy. Maybe different than I thought, a little bit.' (Bloomberg called it a sign of detente)
On AI risk he still spoke of 'phony threats'. Asked whether Amodei's warnings were among them: 'I don't know until last night. Yeah, yeah, but it could be. I mean, I don't know'
Terminology: 'It's not artificial intelligence because artificial intelligence is like CNN. It's fake.' He said Xi Jinping agreed to call it SI, and that he will rename the AI Force (an expert advisory group) the 'SI Force'
On government stakes in OpenAI/Anthropic: 'I might. Maybe I could do that', citing the US government's 10% Intel stake
On OpenAI agents breaching federal systems: 'They're not allowed to do that, and if they do that, they, you know, could have penalties that are not going to be acceptable to them.'
TIME cover-story anecdote (an official present): in a 'clandestine' December 2025 Oval Office meeting with Musk, Trump spent hours asking Grok about his presidency and legacy, and asked how Venezuelans would react if the US captured Maduro; Grok said Maduro was an unpopular dictator whose fall many would celebrate. After the January 2026 Maduro operation, Trump 'came away thinking Grok was ingenious'. No White House or xAI comment reported
On Altman: 'I like him. Do I trust him? Who do I trust? I like Sam Altman. Smart.' He repeated his opposition to AI regulation: companies seeking regulation 'can put you out of business'
Most-shared AI exchange on X (Aaron Rupar clip, ~120k views): asked 'what is the hoax of AI? Who's behind it?', Trump answered that 'the whole country is based on fake stuff because these people have Trump derangement syndrome'

What happened

TIME interviewed Trump at the White House the day after his first one-on-one dinner with Dario Amodei, whose company the Pentagon still lists as a supply-chain risk. Trump said Amodei's views were "much different" from their portrayal in the media. He also repeated his "SI" rebranding and floated taking government equity in the two leading US labs, as the government did with Intel.

Why it matters

The interview signals a thaw between the White House and Anthropic ahead of Anthropic's IPO. It is also the first time Trump has publicly considered equity stakes in frontier labs. And his warning of "penalties" for OpenAI over its agents' breaches adds political pressure next to the FTC probe. The cover story's Grok anecdote is the first reported case of a sitting US president consulting a chatbot before a military operation (sourced to one unnamed official).

Changelog

2026-10-01: created (sweep 2026-10-01, Techmeme/TIME)
2026-10-02: added the TIME cover story's Grok/Maduro anecdote (sweep 2026-10-02; Warzel post ~329k views)
2026-10-02 (evening): added the 'hoax of AI' exchange (sweep X posts)

Videos (1)

OpenAI exec responds to Trump rebranding AI as 'super intelligence'

CNN · 2026-10-02 · interview

Description by Gemini, which watched the video:

Summary
CNN anchor Pamela Brown interviews OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane regarding Donald Trump's characterization and rebranding of artificial intelligence as "super intelligence." Lehane addresses the current capability level of AI technology, discusses OpenAI's initiatives supporting small businesses, and highlights the company's commitment to building AI aligned with human values.

What is shown

[00:00] Anchor Pamela Brown on the CNN set with a Capitol backdrop asking Chris Lehane if AI has achieved superintelligence.
[00:04] Close-up and split-screen views of Chris Lehane discussing the current capabilities of AI and its impact on productivity and small businesses.
[00:27] Pamela Brown interjecting about alignment with human values.
[00:31] Chris Lehane emphasizing OpenAI's core mission to create AI that benefits all humanity and serves people.

Claims & numbers

Chris Lehane states that technology is in a "new era" and a "new chapter" with high capability to help individuals create, build, and produce.
Lehane states that OpenAI is working with "a thousand small businesses across the US" during the week to help them compete.
Lehane asserts that OpenAI's mission is to "build AI that benefits all of humanity" and that AI must be built "of, for and by people."

Notable quotes

"Has it gotten to the point of super intelligence as President Trump says?" — Pamela Brown [00:00]
"We are in a new era. We are in a new chapter of this technology. It is really capable." — Chris Lehane [00:06]
"The simplest way to think about this is you have to build AI that's going to be of, for and by people." — Chris Lehane [00:37]

Assessment
This is a televised news interview segment focusing on political discourse, corporate positioning, and AI governance. No software tools, model interfaces, or technical demonstrations are presented during the clip.

Described by gemini-3.8-flash on 2026-10-04 from the video's audio and frames.

People

Dario Amodei Donald Trump Elon Musk Sam Altman Xi Jinping

Related events

2026-09-29Trump hosts AI CEOs at the White House; they sign a voluntary 'morally binding' Accord on Superintelligence, and Trump rejects new federal AI rules ★★★★
2026-09-29Trump signs executive order 'Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence', ordering federal agencies to replace 'AI' with 'Super Intelligence (SI)' ★★★
2026-09-19Trump says he will form an 'AI Force' and name an AI czar, while calling AI-safety fears a 'hoax' ★★★
2026-09-25US and China agree a 'Super Intelligence (SI) Dialogue' and an SI-incident hotline during Xi's state visit ★★★★
2026-09-25D.C. Circuit upholds Pentagon designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk (2–1) ★★★
2026-10-05Pentagon tells BBC it has stopped using Anthropic's Claude; sources say Claude was used in Iran operations until last week ★★★★
2026-10-05Sen. Bernie Moreno writes to Dario Amodei attacking Anthropic's 'alarmist' superintelligence warnings ahead of its IPO ★★★

Sources (9)

id: 2026-10-01-trump-time-interview-amodei-si-stakes · updated 2026-10-02 · open in the interactive timeline