This week several leading AI companies met with President Donald Trump and senior White House officials and signed what has been described as a “morally binding” accord on “Super Intelligence.” The meeting was broadly successful for the participating firms, but they now face the challenge of maintaining ties with the administration while preparing for a political environment that may shift toward Democratic control of Congress next year.
Turning commitments into operational policies
Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, told Semafor that companies will need to be more specific about how they operationalize the White House accord. Lehane said OpenAI believes it is in its own interest to ensure people feel the company is building and deploying systems safely and responsibly. He also indicated that OpenAI’s support for certain state-level AI bills and its hopes for federal legislation will remain unchanged.
Lehane used an industry analogy: just as carmakers must ensure safety or risk losing customers regardless of regulation, market and democratic pressures will push AI firms toward safer practices even without new rules.
Anticipated political pressure and legislation
Sources told Semafor that AI companies were in active conversations on Capitol Hill before lawmakers left Washington to focus on the November elections. Firms are attempting to influence pending bills and identify areas of consensus with lawmakers. The companies know the midterms could produce a Democratic-run House and possibly a Democratic Senate, which would likely accelerate AI legislation and intensify scrutiny of operations, especially for firms with visible ties to the Trump administration.
An AI policy source told Semafor there is a possibility that better-crafted bills will be introduced soon as lawmakers grow more informed on these issues.
Regulatory signals and the White House stance
Progress toward federal AI policy is slow but steady, a tech industry source said. The Federal Trade Commission has launched its own AI inquiry; while it may not produce major outcomes, it signals that regulators are prepared to use existing laws against companies suspected of harming consumers.
The White House’s generally pro-AI posture is unlikely to change fundamentally, and Trump will remain its most prominent proponent through the end of his term. Industry groups advocating for data-center expansion and business-friendly laws have substantial financial resources and complex ties to AI and tech companies.
Anthropic’s complicated position
Anthropic experienced notable contradictions after the summit: days after a federal court upheld the Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic as a supply-chain risk, CEO Dario Amodei dined with President Trump at the White House.
The administration has repeatedly portrayed Anthropic as emblematic of a pro-safety movement that it characterizes as “woke” and composed of “doomers,” suggesting the company focuses excessively on AI harms or is stoking fear for other motives.
Sarah Heck, a policy lead at Anthropic, posted on X after the White House meeting: “You can’t do safety from second place.” She shared a clip of Amodei praising the accord while also noting AI poses real risks and that how companies address them remains under discussion. Heck later added: “To be clear, I’m talking about the US and its allies here: We can’t ensure AI is developed safely unless the US is in the lead.”
Origins of the White House pact
Semafor reports that the idea that led to the pact between Trump and industry leaders began with a conversation between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
In sum, AI firms now face the practical task of converting broad, publicly announced commitments into concrete operational measures while bracing for the higher likelihood of legislative and regulatory scrutiny should Democrats gain control of one or both chambers of Congress after the midterms.
