President Donald Trump is all-in on pushing a future built on artificial intelligence — but a lot of MAGA loyalists are balking at this, and perhaps few more so than his longtime ally and former strategist Steve Bannon.
This comes as Trump unveils his so-called "Genesis Mission," a White House-led initiative to support AI development for scientific research and build an AI platform to coordinate datasets across federal departments.
According to ABC News, "For years Bannon was one of the few voices on the right railing against the perceived threat of unchecked artificial intelligence and big tech — but as President Trump barrels toward supercharging the technology in the United States, empowering tech billionaires and signing off on a massive expansion of the industry in the coming years, a growing list of some of the most influential voices in Trump's MAGA movement are voicing deep concerns in what could indicate a fundamental fracture within the broad coalition that swept Trump into office in 2024."
In a recent rant on his "War Room" show, Bannon doubled down on this, saying that "I'm a capitalist. This is not capitalism. This is corporatism and crony capitalism" and expressing fear that Trump is on the brink of trying to pre-empt states from regulating AI responsibly.
"You have more restrictions on starting a nail salon on Capitol Hill or to have your hair braided than you have on the most dangerous technologies in the history of mankind," said Bannon.
The longtime Trump ally's stance on AI is not his only break with the president.
Even before Trump took office, Musk began sounding the alarm about tech billionaire Elon Musk's influence, distrusting him and opposing his views on high-skilled immigration. He even called on Musk, who was born in South Africa, to be deported as an "illegal alien" in June. Musk and Trump went on to fall out over the summer.
To boot, Bannon isn't the only MAGA ally unhappy about AI.
"AI is probably the greatest crisis we face as a species right now but it isn't being addressed with any urgency at all," conservative podcaster Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire said in a post last week on X. "We're just sleepwalking into our dystopian future."
