U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that artificial intelligence companies should take the lead in policing the rapidly developing technology, while his administration considers creating a committee to oversee the industry.
Speaking alongside top technology executives, Trump said he was seeing “tremendous self-policing” among AI companies and argued that the industry understands the need to manage the technology’s risks.
“They’re really going to be policing each other,” Trump said.
Trump also said the administration was considering a committee of about 10 people that could monitor the broader AI industry.
The comments came as Trump met with executives from some of the world’s biggest technology companies to discuss AI development, safety and its growing impact on the U.S. economy.
Among those attending were Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
Tech leaders outline AI safety measures
Huang described the current AI expansion as “the largest industrial revolution in history,” saying the technology is driving a massive build-out of computer and chip manufacturing in the United States.
He said the expansion was creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and attracting hundreds of billions of dollars in venture capital.
On the question of AI safety, Huang said innovation and safety can move forward together.
“There’s no conflict between innovation, technology and safety,” he said, adding that the industry is developing new technologies both to expand AI capabilities and improve its safety.
Amodei, whose company develops AI systems, acknowledged the technology’s potential benefits while warning that it also carries “very real risks.”
He said the industry still needs to determine how best to address those risks, but stressed the importance of working with government and other companies to develop AI safely.
Pichai likewise said companies need to address the risks and ensure their AI products are developed and deployed safely.
Companies sign White House AI accord
Zuckerberg said the technology companies had signed a White House accord outlining principles and commitments for developing AI safely.
He said the agreement includes stronger internal controls, risk reviews, external auditing and independent review by company boards.
Zuckerberg described the accord as a starting point rather than a final set of rules for the industry.
Trump said companies have a strong incentive to police themselves because their businesses could be at risk if something goes wrong.
The president also said AI had been given a new name by some of the people involved in the field, referring to it as “super intelligence” or “S.I.”
Trump defends support for data centers
Trump was also asked whether his continued support for large AI data centers could hurt Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.
He defended the projects, saying major technology companies would form partnerships with local communities and contribute to their economies.
House Speaker Mike Johnson echoed that argument, saying Republican candidates and incumbents were discussing AI in their communities and emphasizing the importance of maintaining the U.S. lead over China in the technology.
Musk predicts era of “universal high income”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered a more optimistic view of AI’s long-term impact.
Musk said advances in artificial intelligence and robotics could eventually produce what he called “universal high income,” going beyond the concept of universal basic income.
He also pointed to potential advances in health care, saying superintelligent AI and robots could eventually give people around the world access to better medical care.
Musk said he believed the most likely future would be one of greater abundance and technological benefits.
The discussions come as governments and technology companies continue to grapple with how to encourage rapid AI development while addressing concerns over safety, accountability and the broader economic impact of the technology.
