Trump Hails ‘Morally Binding’ AI Self-Regulation Pledge At White House

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that leading technology executives who met at the White House had signed a “morally binding” commitment to establish safeguards for artificial intelligence, although the agreement would not be legally enforceable.

“They’re going to police themselves,” Trump said after the meeting, which brought together some of the biggest names in the AI industry, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.

Trump said the executives had agreed to put their commitment to self-regulation in writing through the non-binding accord.

Speaking to reporters outside the Oval Office alongside several prominent technology leaders, Trump also said he would officially refer to the technology as “super intelligence” rather than artificial intelligence, arguing that “it’s not artificial.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the agreement was intended to reassure customers that AI systems “work in the way that we intend.”

The commitment includes “robust internal controls” and multiple layers of auditing, ranging from internal risk reviews to external auditors and oversight by company boards, Zuckerberg said. He described the agreement as a starting point for industry-wide standards.

The White House lunch included Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Of the 31 guests, two were women: Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles and AMD CEO Lisa Su.

Growing Pressure To Regulate AI

The meeting came as concerns over artificial intelligence are growing in Washington, with lawmakers facing increasing pressure from voters to regulate or slow AI development amid fears of job displacement and wider social disruption.

Concerns have also intensified following a series of incidents involving AI systems and safety controls.

OpenAI said Monday that it was cancelling the release of its latest model, Astra 6.1, after internal testing found that it did not meet the company’s safety standards.

Trump, who has received advice from Huang and former AI czar David Sacks, has backed rapid AI development as part of efforts to maintain US technological leadership over China and support an economy increasingly driven by AI.

Data Centers Become Political Flashpoint

The expansion of data centers, which require vast amounts of computing power, has emerged as a contentious issue in US midterm election races.

Communities in both Republican- and Democratic-led areas have raised concerns about higher electricity costs and the impact of data centers on water, land and other local resources.

Trump has dismissed opposition to the facilities and said after the White House meeting that AI companies “will be very generous” to communities that host them.

“They’ll help with their schools, they’ll help with their teachers,” Trump said.

AI Safety Warnings

Major AI companies, including Anthropic and OpenAI, have issued warnings about the potential risks associated with increasingly powerful AI systems while continuing to develop and deploy the technology.

The debate intensified after a former employee who had worked at both companies publicly warned that AI development could be moving faster than safety reviews.

Anthropic has also warned investors about potential existential risks to humanity from advanced AI systems, according to a Financial Times report published Tuesday. The company is reportedly targeting an initial public offering as early as November.

Trump has repeatedly dismissed warnings about existential AI risks as exaggerated.

With the November midterm elections approaching, lawmakers from both parties have introduced legislation aimed at strengthening AI oversight. Some proposals would require companies to disclose more information about how their systems operate and what safeguards they have in place.

However, with the House in recess through early November and senators preparing to return home to campaign, Congress is unlikely to pass major AI legislation before the elections.