Trump Calls AI Fears a 'Hoax' as Family Deepens Investments Across AI Economy

President Donald Trump has dismissed warnings about catastrophic artificial intelligence risks as a hoax, as his family's financial ties to the AI economy come under scrutiny.

The Washington Post reported on Sunday, 20 September 2026, that the Trump family business has become increasingly intertwined with the AI boom while the president resists calls to slow the technology's development.

The newspaper described the resulting overlap as posing possible conflicts of interest, since Trump's decisions on one of his administration's most consequential policy debates could affect the value of those interests.

The White House says there is no conflict, and the reporting does not establish that any specific policy decision was made to benefit the family.

The Phone Call That Made the Position Plain

Trump set out his view on Monday, 14 September. He telephoned Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang while Huang was onstage at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles, and Huang put the call on speakerphone for the audience, Bloomberg reported.

Trump said the fears were overblown. 'I'm telling you, it's all a hoax,' he said, adding that the robots would not be taking over the world and that worrying too much about the technology played into the hands of China.

Huang agreed with him, saying Trump had seen through the complexities of the issue. The call came about an hour after the president posted on Truth Social that fears of AI going rogue were a hoax and that progress would not be stopped.

The summit is run by the hosts of the All-In podcast, among them David Sacks, who serves as the administration's AI and cryptocurrency adviser.

The remarks contrasted with calls from within the industry for a slowdown. On 12 September, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called for a deliberate slowdown in the development of advanced AI systems to give safety measures time to catch up, and OpenAI's Sam Altman and xAI founder Elon Musk backed the broader proposal.

What the Family Holds

The family's connections run through several distinct channels, according to the Post, which distinguished between Trump's own stock holdings, his sons' venture investments and family-linked businesses.

Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, has launched a data-licensing product aimed at AI companies and is pursuing a merger with the nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies. The merger was still pending as of June, with completion targeted for the fourth quarter, and TAE's plans to develop power plants could give the combined business exposure to growing electricity demand from data centres.

The president's sons invest through their own vehicles. Donald Trump Jr. is a partner at 1789 Capital, which in August announced the closing of a real estate fund of about £885 million ($1.2 billion) focused partly on digital infrastructure including data centres. He and his brother Eric Trump hold AI and data-centre-related investments through vehicles including 1789 Capital and American Ventures, according to the Post.

The Post contrasted Trump's arrangements with those of recent presidents, who generally placed their assets in arrangements designed to limit their ability to influence investment decisions. It reported that Trump has not put his assets in a blind trust and has continued to buy and sell stocks while in office.

The White House's Response

The administration rejects any suggestion of a conflict. White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump's holdings are kept in discretionary accounts invested through computer-based model portfolios, and that neither the president nor any family member can direct or influence the trades.

That position sits alongside the Post's finding that Trump has not used a blind trust.

The White House also points to what it presents as results. It says the administration has helped attract more than £2 trillion ($2.7 trillion) in technology and AI investment, including £66 billion ($90 billion) in announced AI and energy investment in Pennsylvania.

Those are the administration's own figures for investment commitments rather than money confirmed as spent. It has also published an AI Action Plan aimed at maintaining American leadership in the field.

AI has become a live political issue ahead of the midterms, with debate over the pace of development and the spread of energy-intensive data centres, and with Amodei, Altman and Musk among those warning that safeguards are not keeping pace.

The reporting does not establish that Trump has made a policy decision to enrich his family, but it does document the overlap between his administration's push for AI expansion and his relatives' financial interests in businesses connected to the technology and its infrastructure.