Trump's AI Safety Pact Praised by Lawmakers, But Congressional Framework Looms
On September 29, 2026, President Trump unveiled a voluntary AI safety pact, dubbed the White House Accord on Super Intelligence. The agreement targets the most advanced AI systems and aims to mitigate high-stakes risks, primarily cybersecurity and biosecurity.
The signatory list includes major AI companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta, xAI, and Nvidia. The accord sets up four layers of oversight: internal monitoring teams and independent auditors.
Representatives Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) praised the agreement but emphasized that they will continue working on their own bipartisan framework, the FRONTIER Act. They view the accord as aligning with principles in their bill, but differ on enforcement.
The FRONTIER Act would create a statutory framework requiring independent evaluations of high-risk frontier AI models and grant authority to pull a model from the market if it poses an imminent risk. Detractors have criticized the White House deal for its non-binding nature and limited enforcement capability.