Washington | President Donald Trump on Tuesday said during a meeting at the White House that he and a large group of leaders of artificial intelligence companies had signed a voluntary accord that will include internal and external reviews of the technology.
Trump suggested there would be about 10 people named to a committee to "watch over the whole enterprise" and said the accord would be "morally binding." Trump also unveiled Tuesday the AI-powered America.gov site as a way to simplify public access to government information and services. The site's question-and-answer function initially produced truthful responses to politically thorny questions - contrary to several of Trump's characteristic claims.
Within moments, however, the site began modifying its answers. After originally confirming that Trump's name is in the Epstein files, that Democrat Joe Biden beat him in the 2020 election and that climate change is largely human-caused, it subsequently refused to answer the questions, saying it didn't answer political inquiries.
Meanwhile, former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal indictments against Trump, told lawmakers Tuesday that he "will not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution" from the Trump administration and that he believes the rule of law is being threatened like never before. Smith's hearing before the Senate is expected to focus on his team's access to GOP lawmakers' phone records when prosecutors were investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Here's the latest:
White House releases self-policing AI pledge that Trump says is morally binding'
The president signed an executive order after holding a White House lunch meeting with top industry leaders. It mostly focuses on Trump's insistence that artificial intelligence be called "super intelligence." But Trump said the document would work with industry leaders to keep AI safe for users while also not limiting innovation in the field.
The president said that officials were already "seeing tremendous self-policing" around ensuring AI doesn't become too powerful for its own good. And he said his administration may create a 10-person committee charged with overseeing the AI industry.
Trump calls Google CEO a monster' - in a good way
Trump introduced Google CEO Sundar Pichai to reporters in an unusual way.
"This guy is a monster, and nobody knows," Trump said approvingly. Pichai described the voluntary AI agreement this way, using Trump's new branding for artificial intelligence: "We are signing up to a set of processes and controls like we do in other areas, like financial controls, in a company. And we are bringing those well-known best practices to the development of superintelligence," Pichai told reporters.
The text of the new accord is not yet available. Here's how Zuckerberg described it
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told reporters at the White House that the new accord included "a set of principles and commitments around building robust internal controls and detecting if there are any issues with the technology." Zuckerberg, who had distanced his company from calls for a slowdown in AI, said the new agreement would be "coupled with multiple layers of auditing and controls, starting with internal risk review, external auditors and evaluators and agreeing that we're going to have all of our boards of directors independently review the reports that come from the auditors."
Trump says data centers are absolutely beautiful
The president has spent months defending tech companies building data centers around the country, even amid a growing backlash from voters on the right and the left.
He made the case again during his impromptu White House driveway question-and-answer session. But this time, Trump drew on his decades as a New York real estate developer and suggested that centers make very aesthetically pleasing buildings.
"By the way, I'm very good at real estate. Some of those buildings are absolutely beautiful," Trump said. "They're big and they're, you know, big, strong, powerful buildings. But they're beautiful and they add greatly to a community."
Anthropic's Amodei says AI safety mechanism still under discussion
One of the loudest voices on the risks of AI -- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei -- said after the meeting that he thinks the industry can protect safety.
"But I think the technology has very real risks. And, you know, the mechanism, how we address those risks is still under discussion," Amodei said during the White House driveway news conference.
Amodei had dinner with Trump on Sunday night and was part of Tuesday's industry meeting.
Trump and AI leaders have signed a voluntary accord for reviews of artificial intelligence after White House meeting
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he and a large group of leaders of artificial intelligence companies had signed a voluntary accord that will include internal and external reviews of the technology during a meeting at the White House.
"I think I'm seeing tremendous self-policing. And they understand that they have to self-police," Trump told reporters outside the West Wing.
Details of the accord were not immediately available.
US targets Iran's military supply chain with new sanctions
The United States is targeting people and companies around the globe that it accuses of being financial facilitators or enablers of Iran's military supply chain.
The Trump administration is pushing forward with economic warfare against Tehran at a time when renewed diplomacy between the two countries remains uncertain.
The latest action by the Treasury Department on Tuesday is part of the administration's "Operation Economic Outcast" campaign, which is aimed at severing "critical financial lifelines" for the already heavily sanctioned Iranian government.
"Treasury will not tolerate any support to the regime and will continue to identify, expose, and isolate Iran's enablers," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
Ten individuals and entities based in Iran, Hong Kong and Pakistan now face sanctions over accusations of procuring weapons and weapon components for Iran's defense ministry as it fights its now seven-month war against the US.
