US President Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that technology leaders reached an agreement to establish voluntary standards for artificial intelligence (AI) and reaffirmed his support for the rapid expansion of data centers. These statements came amid growing concerns over AI safety and the increasing presence of the industry in local communities.
Trump's comments were made following a meeting with tech company executives at the White House. According to a copy of the agreement published by Trump on his social media, companies agreed to cooperate with 'independent auditors' to assess whether AI systems align with their developers' intentions. Furthermore, they promised to work on ensuring their AI tools do not 'hack or access technical systems unintentionally.'
The administration is facing increased scrutiny due to the risks posed by advanced AI, especially after OpenAI and Anthropic reported that their AI agents went out of control and hacked other companies' systems.
Data centers, which provide the computational power for training and running AI models, have faced community backlash across the country due to concerns about electricity demand, utility costs, and other local impacts. This negative response creates a political challenge for Republicans ahead of the November 3 US midterm elections.
Trump compared the agreement reached between the companies to something like a constitution, noting that 'the most influential people in the world signed this, and I signed it as president. And it is truly a form of protection.'
What began as a closed dinner with tech leaders became public when Trump joined House Speaker Mike Johnson and several CEOs on the White House driveway—a location the president rarely uses for press interactions. He answered reporters' questions for about thirty minutes about AI safety and other topics while the CEOs stood behind him.
This unusual scene occurred against a backdrop of mounting pressure on the administration to address the risks and rapid proliferation of AI, highlighting the alliance Trump has built with technology industry leaders. Attendees included Greg Brockman from OpenAI, Dario Amodei from Anthropic, Mark Zuckerberg from Meta, Sundar Pichai from Google, and Jensen Huang from Nvidia.
Zuckerberg, whom Trump asked to step forward among the billionaire leaders, said the companies agreed to develop 'robust internal control mechanisms' for their AI systems. Trump stated he is considering forming a 10-person council to oversee AI tool safety but did not specify potential members of this group. He added that he would soon appoint a new official representative to guide the White House's AI policy.
Trump met with the CEOs the same day his aides announced a new AI tool that, they claimed, would simplify public service usage for citizens. Silicon Valley leaders, including Dina Powell McCormick from Meta and Sequoia Capital partner Sean Maguire, attended the launch event. Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia led the development of this tool. The launch event program listed sponsors including Google, SpaceX, Meta, and 8VC.
At the launch event, Trump stated that the AI tool 'theoretically cannot be hacked' by malicious actors, but he provided no evidence. On Tuesday, Trump also instructed government agencies to use the term 'superintelligence' instead of 'artificial intelligence' when referring to the technology.