Did Donald Trump use ChatGPT to create Liberation Day tariffs plan? Here's what reports state as many say AI is running the country

Social media users and experts have claimed that US president Donald Trump's administration used artificial intelligence (AI)- OpenAI's ChatGPT, to compute the tariff rates for his "Liberation Day" tariffs that he imposed on other countries, reported LA Times.

The Accusations and the Formula Behind the Tariffs

The theory initially emerged to prominence when Destiny, a known political commentator, posted on X (formerly Twitter) how the Trump administration had allegedly utilized ChatGPT to come up with the tariff percentages of other countries, according to the report.



Destiny, who goes by @TheOmniLiberal on X, claimed that the tariffs did not make sense and were based on a simplistic equation of dividing the US trade deficit with a country by the overall imports from that country, reported LA Times.

He supported his claims by putting up screenshots of his own exchange with ChatGPT, in which he asked the AI bot to provide him with an "easy way to calculate the tariffs that should be imposed on other countries so that the US is on even-playing fields when it comes to trade deficit? Set minimum at 10%," quoted LA Times.

ChatGPT, in its response, offered a proportional tariff formula, suggesting that nations with bigger trade deficits should pay more tariffs, as per the report. The bot claimed that the tariffs would encourage more balanced trade between America and trading nations, according to LA Times.

Was AI Truly Responsible for the Tariff Calculations?

The rumours that AI played a role in the making of tariffs gained rapid pace. Lawyer, journalist, and legal commentator John Aravosis explained on TikTok how each tariff was calculated by taking the United States trade deficit with another country and dividing it by the total imports from that country to the US, reported LA Times.

Aravosis said in the TikTok video, "Guys, they're setting U.S. trade policy based on a bad ChatGPT question that got it totally wrong. That's how we're doing trade war with the world," quoted LA Times.

FAQs

Why are people saying Trump used ChatGPT for the tariffs?
Some claim the tariff formula, which seems overly simplistic, came from a ChatGPT conversation.

Who first claimed ChatGPT was used to create the tariff plan?
Political commentator Destiny (@TheOmniLiberal) made the claim public by sharing screenshots of his interaction with ChatGPT.