Former White House AI and cryptocurrency czar David Sacks warned on Friday, July 17, 2026, that the United States risks losing its competitive edge in artificial intelligence due to regulatory constraints. His comments followed the release of Kimi K3, a new AI model from the Chinese startup Moonshot AI, which developers claim performs on par with leading US models from Anthropic and OpenAI.

Kimi K3 gained top rankings in the AI evaluator Arena for front-end coding, a development Sacks described as “concerning.” He criticized US politicians and bureaucrats for "tying itself in knots" by banning new data centers, imposing state regulations, and pushing for federal agencies to pre-approve frontier AI models. Sacks argued on X that such measures could cause the US to lose the AI race, as "the rest of the world won’t play by our rules if we bog ourselves down."

Sacks emphasized that "permissionless innovation is how America won the internet and became the technological envy of the world."

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping stated on the same day that AI development and governance should be a global effort, while reiterating China's objections to what he called the “overstretching” of national security concerns.

In related news, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of Truth Social, announced plans to launch “Truth API,” a direct data feed providing investment firms with real-time access to posts from top Truth Social accounts. Truth Social was launched by former President Trump in February 2026.

Additionally, China rejected former President Trump's accusation of interfering in the 2020 US presidential election, calling the claim “entirely fabricated” and “groundless.”

Sources