Trump’s former AI czar says the quiet part out loud on the economy: ‘Stopping progress in AI would be equivalent to halting the U.S. economy’

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President Donald Trump has framed the current state of the U.S. economy as a “golden age,” and in some ways he’s right. The stock market is at record highs, and economic growth has chugged along adequately. And depending on who you ask, it’s all being supported by one growing industry: AI.

“Polls may show that AI is not popular, but economic growth is,” said venture capitalist David Sacks. “At this point, stopping progress in AI would be equivalent to halting the U.S. economy.”

Sacks, who recently stepped down as Trump’s top crypto and AI advisor in March, pointed to the increased foothold AI is taking in the U.S. economy, and said it’s the backbone driving the GDP forward.

“In Q1, AI was already 75% of GDP growth. That trend is likely to continue,” Sacks wrote in an X post published Sunday. “Technology leadership has always been America’s great strength, and it’s driving the economy forward.”