On Tuesday, Sept. 29, six technology executives signed a two-page accord with President Donald Trump, while the White House directed federal agencies to replace “artificial intelligence” with “super intelligence” in official communications and policy documents. The accord assigns companies responsibility for developing their own technology safely. Its commitments are voluntary, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Company Commitments, Company Controls
The document, titled “White House Accord on Super Intelligence: A Joint Commitment on Frontier SI Responsibilities,” says each company must develop its technology safely and build trust. It calls for robust internal processes and controls to make sure the technology behaves as intended, and recommends four additional layers of controls.
The signatories agreed to meet regularly to establish safety standards. The accord says that “over time, it may make sense to codify these steps into laws or regulations.” It doesn’t establish those laws or regulations now.
Trump called the executives’ accord “morally binding.” He described it as “almost like a Constitution in a way,” and said it “really is a form of protection.” The White House didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for additional information, and specifics about the document remained unclear.
The signatories were Google’s Sundar Pichai, Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Jensen Huang of Nvidia, along with Trump. Johnson, who attended Tuesday’s luncheon, called the document a “statement of principles.” He said it contained “voluntary” industry commitments, “robust internal controls” and “layers of internal and external review.”
The State's Role
The White House executive order directs executive branch departments and agencies to use “super intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence” or “AI” in official correspondence, public communications, policy and other documents. A separate order, titled “Inaugurating The Era Of Super Intelligence,” said it aimed to “recognize the continuously advancing technological frontier and the limitless promise it offers the American people.”
The accord itself didn’t declare that the technology’s name had changed; it used Trump’s preferred term in its title. Trump told reporters outside the White House’s West Wing, “We’ve changed the name officially today.” He said the name had been changed by “the biggest, the smartest, the greatest people anywhere in the world.” The previous week, he had asked social media followers whether they preferred “SUPER INTELLIGENCE” or “SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE.”
Asked why people shouldn’t be concerned about AI and why the government shouldn’t mandate safety guardrails, Trump answered, “Because we have people that love our country and love the world a lot.” He has argued the United States doesn’t need new AI-specific regulations, dismissed warnings as a “hoax,” and told world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly last week that he “rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control” AI.
Public Concern and Political Stakes
Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said companies developing powerful AI systems warned that the technology was advancing faster than 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.”
A Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday found 25% of respondents approved of Trump’s handling of AI and 58% disapproved. The survey, conducted Sept. 24 to Sept. 27, had a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points. CNBC reported that recent polls showed majorities expressing fear and concern about AI and disapproval of Trump’s handling of the issue.
Johnson said Republican incumbents agree the United States can’t lose its edge over China in the race for AI dominance. Asked whether support for AI and data centers could hurt Republicans in the upcoming midterm election, Trump said, “I just have to do what’s right.” The accord sets out company-led controls and regular meetings. Turning its steps into laws or regulations remains a future prospect.