President Donald Trump signed a two-page accord with six of the country’s most powerful technology executives Tuesday. The agreement commits their companies to safety standards they’ll write themselves, rather than rules imposed by Washington. Trump called the document “morally binding.”
The White House paired the signing with an executive order directing federal departments and agencies to use “super intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence” or “AI” in official correspondence, public communications and policy documents.
The Accord
Titled “White House Accord on Super Intelligence: A Joint Commitment on Frontier SI Responsibilities,” the document appeared on Truth Social, where Trump shared it. It says each company must develop its technology safely and in a way that builds trust. It calls for internal processes and controls to ensure the technology behaves as intended, and recommends four additional layers of controls. The signatories agreed to meet regularly and set safety standards.
The accord leaves room for government action later. It says “over time, it may make sense to codify these steps into laws or regulations.”
Trump signed alongside Google's Sundar Pichai, Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, Anthropic's Dario Amodei, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Nvidia's Jensen Huang. Trump said the document was “almost like a Constitution in a way.” He added: “the biggest people in the world signed that and I signed it as president and it really is a form of protection.” His administration, he said, is weighing an oversight committee of “maybe 10 people” to “watch over the whole enterprise.”
Details remain scarce. The White House didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for more information.
Voluntary Commitments, Not Mandates
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., attended the luncheon and called the executives’ agreement a “statement of principles.” It includes “voluntary” industry commitments, “robust internal controls” and “layers of internal and external review,” he said. “Safety and innovation are not mutually exclusive pursuits,” Johnson said.
Johnson also said Republican incumbents agree the United States can't lose its edge over China in the race for AI dominance.
That approach echoes the president’s earlier position. Trump has argued the United States doesn't need new AI-specific regulations. Last week, he told world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly that he “rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control” AI. Asked Tuesday why the government shouldn't mandate safety guardrails, Trump replied, “Because we have people that love our country and love the world a lot.”
The Name Change and the Politics
Outside the West Wing, Trump told reporters, “We've changed the name officially today.” The accord itself doesn't declare a name change; it uses his preferred term only in its title. A separate executive order, “Inaugurating The Era Of Super Intelligence,” says it aims to “recognize the continuously advancing technological frontier and the limitless promise it offers the American people.” Last week, Trump asked his social media followers whether they preferred “SUPER INTELLIGENCE” or “SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE.”
Public opinion hasn't moved with him. A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday found that 25% approve of his handling of AI, while 58% disapprove. Those numbers trail his marks on the Iran war (28%), the economy (31%) and U.S.-China policy (34%). The survey ran Sept. 24 to Sept. 27, with a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points. Asked whether his support for AI and data centers could hurt Republicans in the midterms, Trump shrugged: “I just have to do what's right.”
Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized the plan. “The companies building the most powerful AI systems are warning us that the technology is advancing faster than our safeguards. The president's response? To rename it and tell the companies developing it to regulate themselves,” Warner said. “But changing what we call artificial intelligence does nothing to address the very real risks that come with increasingly powerful AI systems.”
Trump has made other renamings. Last month, he signed an order asserting that Lake Ontario would become “Lake America,” during a flare-up with Canada. He also renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
Why This Matters: The accord tests whether industry can police itself before Washington writes the rules. Supporters, including Speaker Johnson, say voluntary commitments protect innovation as the U.S. competes with China. Critics say self-regulation isn't enough. The document doesn't settle the question. It says codifying the steps into law “may make sense” over time, but leaves the proposed 10-person oversight committee undefined. With only 25% of Americans approving of Trump's AI handling, the companies now must show that voluntary controls work. If they don't, pressure for mandates will grow. That would move the decision from firms that build the technology to Congress and federal agencies. Governments worldwide are still struggling to keep pace.