LOS ANGELES, Sept. 29 (Our Los Angeles) — A planned White House meeting in Washington on Tuesday will put a central U.S. policy question before President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and technology executives: how much oversight should the government apply to artificial intelligence while companies continue to develop it. Johnson has ruled out a pause in AI development and warned against sweeping regulation, but has not set out a specific proposal.
“The innovation is important to continue, but we have to strike the right balance. That’s what the conversation is going to be about,” Johnson said Monday in an interview with Fox Business. The Republican speaker said safety, transparency and oversight also matter. He argued that a moratorium or extensive regulation could leave the United States behind China.
That distinction is significant for AI developers. Johnson described oversight as necessary but did not say what form it should take or what would trigger federal action. “I think there may be a role for the DOJ if things go awry,” he said, referring to the Justice Department. “But what we need before we get to that stage is transparency, and we need some oversight.” His remarks framed a possible department role as a future response, not an action announced for the meeting.
A person familiar with the plans told Reuters the meeting was set for September 29. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Greg Brockman and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang were among those expected to attend, according to people familiar with the plans cited by Reuters. Their expected attendance does not establish that they took part. Johnson’s remarks identified the policy tension the meeting is meant to address, but not a measure for the White House or Congress to consider.
