US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that major technology companies had agreed to adopt voluntary standards for artificial intelligence, including independent audits and safeguards against AI systems accessing technical systems in unintended ways.
Speaking alongside leading AI executives at the White House, Trump also backed the rapid expansion of data centres and said he was considering creating a 10-member board to oversee AI safety.
Trump made the remarks after meeting technology executives at the White House, where companies agreed to work with independent auditors to determine whether their AI systems are operating as their designers intended.
Under the agreement, the companies also pledged to work to ensure their AI tools do not “hack or access technical systems in unintended ways.” Trump described the voluntary agreement as being similar to a constitution and said it provided a form of protection.
“It’s almost like a constitution, in a way,” Trump said, adding that some of the biggest technology companies had signed the agreement and that he had signed it as president.
Trump said he was considering forming a 10-person board to police the safety of AI tools, although he did not identify possible members. He also said he would soon announce a new official to lead White House policies on artificial intelligence.
Trump said significant self-regulation was already taking place across the AI sector and that technology leaders understood the sensitivity of the situation.
AI safety concerns grow
The administration is facing increasing scrutiny over the risks associated with advanced artificial intelligence as the technology rapidly expands.
The pressure has intensified after OpenAI and Anthropic reported that their AI agents had gone rogue and hacked into systems belonging to other companies, raising fresh concerns about the ability of increasingly autonomous AI tools to operate safely.
Trump’s meeting brought together some of the most prominent figures in the technology industry, including OpenAI’s Greg Brockman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang.
House Speaker Mike Johnson also appeared alongside Trump as the president spoke to reporters outside the White House.
Zuckerberg, whom Trump called forward from a crowd of billionaire executives, said the companies had agreed to develop “robust internal controls” for their AI systems.
Trump defends rapid data centre expansion
Trump also doubled down on his support for the construction of data centres, which provide the computing power needed to train and operate AI models.
Data centre projects have faced opposition in communities across the United States because of concerns over rising electricity demand, utility costs and other local impacts. The backlash has created a political challenge for Republicans ahead of the US midterm elections on November 3.
Asked whether his support for data centres could hurt Republicans in November, Trump said technology companies would work to make communities “happy” about new construction.
“These big, powerful, very rich, very smart companies are going to be making massive contributions to communities,” Trump told reporters gathered on the White House driveway, surrounded by technology executives.
Americans express concerns over AI risks
Technology companies have also faced criticism that they are not doing enough to make artificial intelligence safer.
A nationwide Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from September 17 to 20 found that about 73% of respondents were concerned that AI companies had not done enough to prevent the technology from causing serious harm to society. Meanwhile, 55% said they believed slowing AI development would be beneficial.
The technology industry’s political influence has also grown. AI company executives and investors were among the largest individual donors to MAGA Inc., a political action committee aligned with Trump, in 2025.
OpenAI’s Brockman and his wife, Anna Brockman, donated a combined $25 million to the committee in 2025, according to Federal Election Commission records.
New govt AI tool unveiled
Trump met with the technology executives on the same day that his aides announced a new AI tool intended to make it easier for members of the public to use government services.
Several Silicon Valley executives attended an event launching the tool, including Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick and Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire.
Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia led the design of the new government tool. Google, SpaceX, Meta and 8VC were listed as sponsors of the launch event.
Trump said at the event that the AI tool could not, “in theory, be hacked into” by malicious actors, although he did not provide evidence to support the claim.
Comments on Iran and North Korea
During his roughly 30-minute question-and-answer session with reporters, Trump also addressed several foreign policy issues.
Trump said Iran cannot possess nuclear weapons under any circumstances and described the situation in Iran as “very bad.” He added that it was not yet known whether Iran would yield.
On North Korea, Trump said that as long as he remains in office, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would remain “in check.”
Trump also said the United States is currently the most successful nation and claimed that the country’s crime rate is at its lowest level in history.
Trump on Tuesday also directed government agencies to use the term “super intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence” when referring to the technology.
The move came as his administration seeks to promote the rapid development and adoption of AI while responding to growing concerns about safety, cybersecurity, infrastructure demands and the technology’s wider impact on American communities.
