Press Gaggle: JD Vance Speaks with Reporters Before Air Force Two Departure - September 14, 2026

Hey, good morning everybody. So we're excited to do a fraud task force event in, uh, in the Kansas City area, and then a campaign with my very dear friend, Doc Marshall, who's one of the very best United States senators, and very important that we get him reelected. So we're looking forward to a good day. What's going on?

Are you concerned at all about the developments with AI and the calls over the weekend by Sam Altman, Dario Amodei to pause the development of artificial intelligence?

You know, it's something that we're concerned by, but we wanna make sure that we, we re- -- actually regulate smartly and we're, we're, we're thoughtful about the risk here. So there are obviously risks to AI, there are some benefits to AI. I, I, I have to say just personally, I feel a little bit weird about the fact that you have so many frontier AI tech companies kind of coming to the government and begging the government to regulate them. It feels a little bit, to me, like a bit of a Trojan horse. So I think we just have to be careful about this. Um, the other thing the president has said pretty consistently is we know that the Chinese are engaged in this long-term AI race against the United States. We wanna make sure the United States, we do things smartly, but we stay ahead of the curve.

But you don't think Americans should be scared about the way AI is trending right now?

Well, look, any technology has risks. Any new technology is gonna be, bring both risks and benefits. I think what the president has said is we wanna be smart about making sure we stay on top of the risks. I don't think Americans should be scared of anything. I think that we have to be mindful that there are risks, there are downsides to anything, and that's certainly true of AI.

On AI regulation, do you think Congress should take the lead or do you wanna see administrative, um, executive authority work?

Well, obviously the best way to do it would be consensus between both Congress and the administration. We obviously have a lot of folks on both sides of the aisle with a strong opinion, but any regulatory regime, you'd like ideally Congress and the White House to agree on it so that we actually are able to make it stick and so that we actually get some real consensus behind it.

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In the Middle East, are you concerned at all about the Houthi seizure of Perim Island in the Red Sea, and what is the U.S. gonna respond to that?

You know, like, like I, concern certainly, it's something that we're keeping pretty close tabs on. Uh, we're, we've been in constant contact with the Emiratis, the Saudis, and others who are affected in the region. So it's something the United States administration is very much on top of. Uh, we've also been engaged in direct conversations with the Houthis themselves. So we actually feel like we are on top of the situation. It's a very fluid and dynamic thing, but we're gonna keep on monitoring it and making sure that American's best interests are represented.

There are some reports that you were looking for unvarnished truth from military leaders in the Middle East, calling them directly to ask their opinion of what's going on in the ground. Do you trust what you're getting from the Pentagon?

Uh, I, I, I mean, I, I trust Pete and I trust Dan Caine, but I found that story very weird. It's like the vice president calls around to admirals and generals to try to understand America's foreign policy. Of course I do. We'll talk more. See you guys later.

Thank you.