President Donald Trump said the risks posed by artificial intelligence can be managed and signaled a new openness to safeguards, telling CBS' "60 Minutes" in his post-midterms interview that he "doesn't mind guardrails" on the technology.
The remarks, reported by Reuters and confirmed by multiple outlets after the interview aired Sunday evening, mark a noticeable shift in tone from a president who has repeatedly pushed back on AI regulation — including warnings that Congress risked regulating the fast-growing sector "out of business." For companies, investors and state regulators trying to read the political wind in Washington, the interview is the clearest signal yet that the White House may accept federal guardrails it spent months resisting. You can follow our ongoing AI policy coverage as the legislative picture develops.
What Trump Actually Said
According to Reuters, Trump told "60 Minutes" that the risks posed by artificial intelligence "can be managed" and that he "doesn't mind guardrails" — language that leaves room for safeguards without committing to any specific bill or regulatory framework.
The president paired that openness with a familiar caveat: the United States cannot fall behind China in the AI race. "If we don't have it, China's going to have it," Trump said, according to remarks circulated after the broadcast, framing domestic competitiveness as the boundary condition for any regulatory accommodation.
That two-part message — risks are manageable, but America must win — mirrors the argument Trump has made throughout his political career on emerging technologies, and it suggests the administration would prefer guardrails that target misconduct and safety failures rather than ones that slow down frontier model development itself.
Openness to Working With Democrats
Several accounts of the interview noted that Trump signaled willingness to work with Democrats on AI safeguards, even as opposition lawmakers prepare their own hearings on AI oversight. That is a significant shift from the past year, during which the administration largely framed AI regulation as a state-by-state problem and pushed back on congressional proposals for mandatory security audits and frontier-model licensing.
Whether the openness translates into legislation is another question. Congress has struggled for two years to pass comprehensive AI rules, and the issue has divided the president's own party, with some allies warning that any federal framework would hand an advantage to the largest AI companies while burying startups in compliance costs.
Why the Tone Shift Matters Now
The timing of Trump's comments is not accidental. The midterm elections delivered a clear signal about voter unease with AI, particularly its physical footprint: ballot measures restricting data center development passed in community after community across at least 13 states, and governors in the largest data center states are now openly discussing moratoriums on new construction.
A White House that reads those results as a warning about political risk has an incentive to show voters it takes AI harms seriously — without freezing the buildout that underpins the stock market's dominant rally. Trump's "guardrails I can live with" framing attempts to square exactly that circle.
The shift also lands amid a rough stretch for the AI sector itself. Chip stocks have sold off sharply in recent weeks, high-profile safety incidents involving autonomous AI agents have kept oversight on the front pages, and the administration's own AI officials have begun publicly acknowledging that public confidence is a precondition for the industry's expansion.
From Pushback to Negotiation
As recently as this autumn, the White House position was blunt resistance. Trump pushed back on AI rules as Congress weighed mandatory security audits, and his administration framed most oversight proposals as threats to American leadership rather than complements to it. Industry executives who wanted federal rules were effectively told to lobby the states instead.
The 60 Minutes interview does not reverse that position, but it moves the goalposts. By saying out loud that he "doesn't mind guardrails," Trump has given congressional negotiators a political opening that did not exist last month — and given the AI industry a reason to engage rather than resist, since a framework blessed by the president would preempt a patchwork of fifty different state regimes.
Democrats, for their part, are preparing hearings that will test whether the administration's new tone comes with any specifics. The likely agenda items are familiar: mandatory incident reporting for autonomous agents, security audits for frontier models, and disclosure rules for AI-generated content.
What to Watch Next
Three things will show whether Trump's openness is real. First, whether the White House endorses any specific bill rather than gesturing at "guardrails" in the abstract. Second, whether the president's China framing hardens into an explicit red line — for example, opposing any rules that require pre-release approval for frontier models. Third, whether federal agencies begin drafting rules that assume legislation is coming.
For now, the most consequential fact is rhetorical: a president who spent a year dismissing AI regulation as a growth killer told a national television audience that the risks are manageable and the guardrails acceptable. In a policy debate that has been defined by absolutes, that is a meaningful change.
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