Trump's comments come after an escalation of not only the apparent hacking capabilities of popular AI tools, but White House threats aimed at competing Chinese tech. Trump added that while some kind of control around AI tools was on the table, such a move would have to be done carefully. In the last week, OpenAI has taken responsibility for at least two hacking incidents involving its AI tools acting outside of what they were designed and directed to do. Meanwhile, in an internal White House memo from April, Trump's senior tech advisor Michael Kratsios accused China's AI firms of "industrial-scale" theft of US AI technology. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has also warned that Chinese AI firms could face sanctions for such activity.