Musk, Zuckerberg And Huang Urged Trump To Reject AI Regulator

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang reportedly spoke with President Donald Trump last month about a proposed industry-funded organization that would oversee artificial intelligence standards and regulation. According to the Wall Street Journal, their opposition helped stall the proposal as the White House continues to debate how much government oversight the rapidly developing AI industry should face.

The proposed organization was modeled on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, which oversees brokerage firms. Google Chief Scientist Demis Hassabis, who also leads the company’s DeepMind AI unit, had been promoting the concept among White House officials. The proposal received support from a number of AI industry executives, but Zuckerberg, Huang and Musk raised concerns about how the organization would be structured and who would control it.

According to people familiar with the discussions cited by the Journal, the three technology leaders were concerned that such a body could concentrate additional influence among OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind, the three major U.S. AI laboratories. Zuckerberg, Huang and Musk separately communicated their concerns to Trump, after which the administration did not proceed with establishing the proposed regulator.

The dispute comes amid a broader disagreement within the Trump administration over AI policy. Some senior officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, have pushed for greater scrutiny of AI risks, while other advisers and technology executives have favored a lighter regulatory approach. The Journal reported that White House officials have found it difficult to build consensus partly because AI executives can approach Trump directly with their views.

The debate is also unfolding as AI companies face renewed questions about safety and the pace of development. OpenAI recently announced a framework for publicly reporting cases of unexpected or unauthorized model behavior, while Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for greater coordination and a more measured approach to frontier AI development.

Zuckerberg and Huang have recently argued against calls for an industry-wide slowdown. Zuckerberg said AI companies have strong incentives to make their systems safe and aligned with users and argued that each laboratory can determine the pace needed to train its models safely. He has also said Meta is open to independent evaluators and advisers.

Huang similarly rejected the idea that AI development must choose between safety and speed. Speaking at Salesforce’s Dreamforce event, he said companies could pursue both and argued against introducing new AI-specific laws or regulations, instead pointing to market forces as an incentive for companies to develop and release systems responsibly.

Musk has taken a more mixed position on recent AI safety discussions. He previously questioned warnings from former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon about potential AI-driven human extinction and described the posts as potentially part of a “psy op.” However, after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for AI development to be paced and for greater coordination on safety, Musk responded that “Dario is right.”

The White House is expected to continue discussions with AI executives as it considers its broader approach to AI oversight. Trump is also expected to host AI CEOs at the White House next week, while Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are scheduled to attend a state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the administration remains open to discussions about managing shared AI-related risks.