Amid growing global concerns over the threats posed by artificial intelligence, U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed the idea of introducing new federal regulations for AI after meeting with industry executives at the White House.

After having lunch with more than twenty Silicon Valley leaders on Tuesday, Trump said existing laws are sufficient to protect Americans from the potential risks of AI. Attendees included Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

Speaking briefly to reporters alongside his guests in the White House East Room, Trump said: "Some people think there should be a lot of self-regulation, and the Department of Justice, the FBI and other agencies already provide regulation themselves, but self-regulation is very important."

As an alternative, Trump and the attendees signed an agreement. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the agreement lays out a number of "commitments" made "voluntarily" by the industry, including implementing "strong internal controls and multiple layers of internal and external review." Johnson said the text of the agreement would be released later.

Recent high-profile safety incidents involving runaway AI models have prompted Silicon Valley AI developers and world leaders to call for new standards for the technology. However, Trump's remarks poured cold water on expectations that the government might abandon its firm opposition to new AI regulations and take a more open stance toward new rules.

Trump hosted the executives for lunch together with Johnson. Other tech industry attendees included Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp and OpenAI President Greg Brockman.

Trump's willingness to discuss AI safety issues itself appeared to mark a shift in attitude, because just last week he had dismissed concerns about catastrophic risks as a "hoax."

On September 29, after Alex Karp arrived at the White House for the meeting, Trump made an impromptu appearance in the White House West Wing driveway and suggested forming a "committee" of about 10 people to help "oversee the entire industry." He did not provide further details.

Industry leaders who appeared with Trump outside the White House largely supported the president's position of reducing government intervention and allowing AI companies to self-regulate. Huang said he believes "there is no conflict between innovation, technology and safety."