PARKER: Republicans attempt to ease AI and data centre overreaction

America First innovation in this technological frontier really matter.

Published Sep 27, 2026  •  Last updated 24 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Photo by Fabrice Coffrini /Getty Images

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source

Article content

I’m far from understanding chatbots, chips and AI technology, but I’ve worked in D.C. long enough to be suspicious when industry giants come begging for government regulations.

Article content

Recommended Videos

Article content

In the September 2026 essay “We Must Pace the Frontier,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says that AI “could dramatically raise the quality of human life” but that it “brings risks, and because it is such a powerful technology, these risks are serious.” He advocated “pacing the rate of capabilities advancement so that risk prevention has time to keep up.” The Anthropic CEO recommends embedding third-party evaluators at each frontier AI company to verify adherence to safety practices, coordination among companies within democratic countries to establish common safety standards, and for the U.S. and other democracies “to coordinate with authoritarian governments, to the extent possible, while taking seriously the challenges of verifying compliance.”

Absent such action, Amodei warned that an AI swarm could become capable of “taking over the internet” within a year.

Article content

Article content

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk jumped on the bandwagon to support Amodei’s call to “slow the pace” of AI development and install guardrails. AI is now a huge midterm voter concern as fearmongers took to the internet and ignited the masses to demand political action. Within a matter of weeks, every candidate for public office has been asked to banish data centres. AI firms need data centres to support their functions, and while yes, these centres need vast amounts of electricity and water, certainly there must be a better solution than to slow down market forces. Far too many voters, now scared that AI will destroy humanity and that data centres will consume all public utility, have a great pace of not-in-my-backyard overreaction.

To get in front of this anxiety, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he is creating an AI Force and plans to name an artificial intelligence czar as his administration pushes to accelerate the growth of AI in the U.S.

Article content

He said in a lengthy Truth Social post last week that his administration would resist efforts to restrict the rapidly developing technology.

Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are warning that a Chinese lead in AI would pose grave danger for the United States and the world.

“We will not in any way hinder or stifle the growth of this incredible Industry,” the post said. “Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!”

And they are not alone in supporting market forces and growth.

Former Palantir executive Will Thibeau chimed in that Anthropic and OpenAI support government regulations that smaller startups cannot absorb and would allow the large firms to entrench a “duopoly” at the expense of new innovators. The key businessman behind chip technology for AI, Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, also expressed some concern about government overreach in a recent CBS Sunday Morning interview about this matter. Kudos to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Brett Guthrie. R-Ky., chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, for addressing voter fears about data centres by moving quickly to pass the Ratepayer Protection Act before recessing for midterm election campaigning. This act would require state public utility commissions to consider a strategy to make data centres pay their own way, instead of passing costs onto consumers.

Article content

Respect for capitalism is essential to ensure responsible and measured oversight of AI security and data centre matters so as not to “slow the pace.” First-to-market matters and America First innovation in this technological frontier really matter. Perhaps the AI giants looking to politicians for their moral compass need a reminder that President Ronald Reagan warned the scariest words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

And let’s all remember that Reagan also schooled: “The freer the flow of world trade, the stronger the tides for human progress and peace among nations.”

Read More

1. 

   PARKER: SAVE America Act v. Packing Supreme Court: Devil in the Details

2. 

   PARKER: Debbie Wasserman Schultz spotlights a new Democratic Party dilemma

Article content