Trump to hold AI summit despite branding fears a 'hoax'

The meeting will focus on striking a "balance" between regulation and oversight, according to a chief Trump ally.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told interviewers on Monday: "We do not need a moratorium. We do not need to jump in and hyper-regulate this, because we'll lose the race to China.

"The innovation is important to continue, but we have to strike the right balance. That's what the conversation is going to be about."

Mr Trump has repeatedly downplayed the risks of the technology, instead stressing the importance of maintaining a competitive edge with China.

Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic's Dario Amodei, OpenAI's Greg Brockman and Nvidia's Jensen Huang are among those who will attend Tuesday's meeting.

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The White House meeting comes as leading AI companies are calling for slowing development of increasingly capable AI systems, warning of the risks to humanity and appealing for governments to work together to manage the increasingly powerful technology..

Earlier this month, former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon said that "people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade."

Johnson said the US should be mindful of safety but not stymie the technology's development. "I think there may be a role for the DOJ if things go awry. But what we need before we get to that stage is transparency, and we need some oversight," he said.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said AI industry leaders were pleading for some government action and Congress has a responsibility to protect the American people.

"So, when it comes to AI safety, it certainly seems to me that we need to actually lean in boldly and responsibly — now," Jeffries told CNBC on Monday.

Earlier this month Donald Trump announced plans to rename AI to Super-intelligence, and insisted the only protection needed against the tech was a "smart president".

Brushing aside calls for regulation, Mr Trump claimed that that we already have "tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies" and slammed the "sick conspiracy" against AI and data centres.

Washington and Beijing are competing for leadership in artificial intelligence, which both governments view as vital to their economic and military strength.

Trump and technology executives have argued that excessive regulation would slow US AI development and undermine American companies' ability to compete with Chinese rivals, a claim that safety advocates often refute.