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AI company leaders sign a voluntary pledge to police their own models, Trump says
September 30, 2026
After a White House lunch with AI executives on Tuesday, Trump said the firms signed a voluntary accord to police themselves and promised no new federal rules on the industry.
Trump has promised not to limit AI development with federal regulation, even as some AI company leaders and many voters call for guardrails on the technology.
CNN reports that Trump used Tuesday's meeting with AI executives to wave off calls for regulation, casting the risks of the technology as a Democratic Party “hoax” and saying the industry leaders had signed a pledge he called morally binding. CNN also reports that he renamed the technology during the day. “We’ve changed the name, officially, today. We’ve changed the name officially to SI,” Trump said. CNN cites a CNN/SSRS poll in which 75% of respondents say AI's spread fills them with fear and concern and 71% want more federal regulation, and its analysis argues that Trump carries the political risk if the industry fails to hold itself in check.
NPR reports the terms. The accord, which Trump posted on Truth Social, sets out four voluntary steps: internal controls, an independent external auditor to test them, and a committee on each company board to review the auditors' findings. NPR lists Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Sundar Pichai of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Greg Brockman of OpenAI, Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Elon Musk among the signers, and reports that Trump said about 10 people would sit on a committee overseeing the effort. Amodei told NPR the technology carries real risks. “And, you know, the mechanism, how we address those risks is still under discussion,” Amodei said. Trump also said the companies would ease local opposition to data centers with support for schools or lower energy costs. “You're going to see, data centers are going to be very popular,” Trump said. Critics quoted by NPR want binding rules instead. “The only way to reduce the risks and harms of AI to Americans is through robust legal liability, regulation and fundamentally changing the race dynamics that are driving unsafe decision-making by frontier AI developers whose costs are borne by the American people,” Alex Pascal said.
The WSJ, in its morning risk newsletter headline, frames the day as Trump defending a light-touch AI policy after warnings from the industry, and reports that House Speaker Mike Johnson joined Trump in saying the CEOs had signed a safety statement. The outlets agree on the core facts: a signed voluntary accord, internal and external reviews, and no new federal rules from this White House. What the accord will require in practice, and who will oversee it, is not yet set.
Still developing
What the committee to oversee the accord will look like was still coming in at the time of this draft.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- CNN — Trump’s blasé attitude toward AI risks backfiring politically
- NPR — Trump says top tech firms have signed accord to 'self-police' AI development
- WSJ — The Morning Risk Report: Trump Defends Light-Touch AI Strategy After Industry Sounds Alarms - WSJ
Toggle read the full reports of all 4 outlets counted on this event.