Sam Altman calls critics of Trump's UAE AI deals 'naive'

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman called detractors of artificial intelligence (AI) deals US President Donald Trump cracked with Gulf countries during his recent visit "naive".

Responding to David Sacks, Trump's top AI advisor and former PayPal executive, on X, Altman said the deals were "an extremely smart thing for you all to do and I’m sorry naive people are giving you grief."

Sacks stated in his post that he was perplexed by how anyone opposing China could claim that President Trump’s AI deals with the UAE and Saudi Arabia "aren’t hugely beneficial for the United States".



US lawmakers are concerned that supplying high-tech AI chips to Gulf countries can open access to them for China. Notably, the Trump administration recently scrapped a Biden-era rule restricting export of advanced AI semiconductors to a dozen countries.

Sacks said concerns over US chips landing in China could be easily addressed with a security agreement and a “trust but verify” approach, which can be followed with physical verifications.

During Trump's visit to Gulf countries earlier this week, several deals regarding AI development in the region were signed. Chipmakers Nvidia and AMD have joined hands with Saudi Arabia's Humain to bring billions in chips and hardware to the kingdom.

Also Read: All about Humain, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s multi-billion dollar AI company

Amazon Web Services will build an "AI Zone" in Saudi Arabia for $5 billion, while the UAE has announced plans for a new AI campus. Altman's OpenAI has committed to help the UAE develop one of the largest data centres in the world, with Nvidia and Cisco also backing the project.

On the flipside, US lawmakers have voiced their concerns over these deals being used by China to access US-made AI chips.

“This deal could very well be dangerous because we have no clarity on how the Saudis and Emiratis will prevent the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese government, the Chinese manufacturing establishment from getting their hands on these chips,” said Democratic senator Chuck Schumer earlier this week.

"Reports of new U.S. chip deals with Gulf nations—without a new chip rule in place—present a vulnerability for the CCP to exploit. The CCP is actively working to indirectly access our most advanced technology. Without a formal AI diffusion rule, deals like this risk creating backdoor vulnerabilities for export control circumvention," said House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.