Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson are to meet leading AI executives at the White House on Tuesday, as lawmakers weigh how to regulate rapidly advancing technology without undermining US innovation.
Those expected to attend include Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei, OpenAI president Greg Brockman, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and Palantir chief executive Alex Karp. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang are also expected to be there.
Mr Johnson said the discussion would focus on finding the “right balance” between regulation and innovation.
“Instead of just smothering this with red tape, which is always the government’s reflex, and I think would be wrong and frankly dangerous to national security if we did it here, we want to continue the innovation,” the Louisiana Republican said. “A balance is what we’re after. I think the conversation tomorrow will help us along that way.”
Mr Trump held a private dinner with Mr Amodei on Sunday. The Anthropic leader has called for safeguards around the industry, while Mr Trump has resisted proposals to slow AI development and has described some concerns as a “hoax”.
Executives at Anthropic and OpenAI have urged limits on the pace of development to manage potential risks, including warnings from some that the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity. Mr Huang, among others, has argued that such concerns are exaggerated and that guardrails could weaken America’s advantage over China.
Mr Trump said earlier this month that he was seeking to establish a federal “AI force”. The White House meeting comes as pressure grows on lawmakers to respond to the rapid expansion of the technology.
Senate majority leader John Thune will not attend the White House gathering, although he said he hoped it would be productive. He met Mr Amodei at the Capitol on Monday and said senators would hold discussions with some of the executives later in the week.
Several technology executives are also due to attend a separate event in Washington on Tuesday at which AI will be among the topics discussed. Mr Trump is expected to speak and unveil a new online portal for the federal government, according to a White House official.
