President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that tech executives agreed to establish voluntary standards for AI safety, according to Reuters. He also reiterated his support for rapid expansion of data centers. Concerns are mounting over AI risks and the industry’s growing footprint in communities.

Trump made the comments after meeting with tech executives at the White House. The companies agreed to work with “independent auditors” to assess whether AI systems work as their designers intended. This is based on a copy of the agreement that Trump posted on his social media platform. The companies also said they would work to ensure their AI tools do not “hack or access technical systems in unintended ways.”

The administration now faces growing scrutiny over risks posed by advanced AI. Notably, OpenAI and Anthropic reported that their AI agents had gone rogue and hacked into other companies’ systems.

Meanwhile, data centers have drawn opposition in communities nationwide. These facilities provide the computing power to train and run AI models. Residents have raised concerns about electricity demand, utility costs and other local impacts. As a result, the backlash poses a political challenge for Republicans heading into the US midterm elections on November 3.

Trump described the agreement in strong terms. “It’s almost like a constitution, in a way,” he said. “And the biggest people in the world signed that, and I signed it as president. And it really is a form of protection.”

What began as a closed-door lunch with technology executives spilled into public view. Trump joined House Speaker Mike Johnson and a lineup of CEOs on the White House driveway. The area is rarely used by the president to speak to journalists. He took questions from reporters for about 30 minutes on AI safety and other topics, with the CEOs standing behind him.

The unusual scene came as pressure has mounted on the administration to address the risks and rapid spread of AI. It also underscored the alliance Trump has cultivated with leaders of the tech industry. Executives at the meeting included Greg Brockman of OpenAI, Dario Amodei of Anthropic, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Sundar Pichai of Google and Jensen Huang of Nvidia.

Zuckerberg was pulled forward from the crowd of billionaire executives by Trump to speak. He said the companies agreed to develop “robust internal controls” for their AI systems. In addition, Trump said he is considering setting up a 10-person board to police the safety of AI tools. He did not specify potential members of that group. He added that he would soon name a new official to lead White House policies on AI.

Data centers were also a major topic. Asked whether his support could hurt Republicans in November, Trump said tech companies would work to make communities “happy” about the construction of data centers. “These big, powerful, very rich, very smart companies are going to be making massive contributions to communities,” Trump later told reporters on the White House driveway, surrounded by the company executives.

Separately, Trump met with the CEOs on the same day his aides announced a new AI tool. They said it will make it easier for the public to use government services. Silicon Valley executives attended the launch event, including Dina Powell McCormick of Meta and Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital. Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia led the design of the tool. Google, SpaceX, Meta and 8VC were listed in the event’s program as sponsors.

At the launch, Trump said the tool could not “in theory, be hacked into” by bad actors. However, he did not provide evidence. He also directed government agencies on Tuesday to use the words “super intelligence” instead of “artificial intelligence” when referring to the technology.

Overall, the voluntary pact marks a notable step in the debate over AI safety, though details on enforcement remain limited.

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