The President of the United States, Donald Trump, told reporters on Tuesday that he is considering creating a 10-person committee to oversee the AI sector, after meeting with technology sector executives at the White House.
Trump also stated that the technology executives signed an agreement that is “morally binding,” without providing details.
The pressure on the Trump administration to address the risks posed by AI has been mounting, after OpenAI and Anthropic reported that their AI agents had rebelled and breached the systems of other companies. The breaches led researchers to warn that some AI developers believe the technology could kill humans within a decade, fueling calls for action from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
Trump also stated that technology companies will work to keep communities “happy” with the construction of data centers, as the sector faces growing local opposition to the expansion of these facilities.
Trump: Data centers are “financially beneficial”
Data centers, which provide the computing power used to develop and operate AI systems, are a central component of the AI boom. Their expansion has generated opposition in communities across the United States due to concerns about electricity demand, utility costs, and other local impacts, prompting companies to offer incentives in order to ease these concerns.
Data centers “will bring real financial benefits to the community,” Trump told reporters.
Among the executives present at Tuesday’s White House meeting were Dario Amodei of Anthropic; Mark Zuckerberg of Meta; Sundar Pichai of Google; Jensen Huang of Nvidia; and Alex Karp of Palantir. For the Trump administration, Technology Advisor Michael Kratsios and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick participated, as well as the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson.
Trump met with the executives on the same day his aides announced a new AI tool that, they say, will make it easier for the public to access government services. Silicon Valley executives attended the launch event on Tuesday, including Dina Powell McCormick of Meta and Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia. Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia led the project for the new tool. Google, SpaceX, Meta and 8VC were listed as sponsors of the launch program.
Trump stated at the launch event that he does not wish to work with Chinese President Xi Jinping on regulating AI technology, adding that doing so would make it harder for American companies to develop AI products that outperform their Chinese counterparts. Trump also said he discussed AI with Xi when he visited the U.S. last week, adding that the U.S. already works with Xi’s government “in many ways.”
“We are in the lead now, ahead of China and everyone else, and I want it to stay that way,” Trump said at the event.
Bipartisan legislative efforts in the Senate, focused on AI regulation, are stalled. Senator Ted Cruz, from Texas, one of the Republicans involved in the discussions, said on Tuesday that he expects “to move forward with this” after the November midterm elections.
