Trump White House pushes G-20 to avoid new AI oversight bodies
Commerce Secretary Lutnick and tech adviser Kratsios will advocate a hands-off regulatory approach as Chinese AI models gain ground globally.
The Trump administration will push G-20 nations to adopt a light-touch approach to artificial intelligence regulation at a two-day meeting beginning Tuesday in North Carolina, according to a White House official.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and White House tech adviser Michael Kratsios will host the gathering, which brings together commerce ministers and industry executives at a pivotal moment for AI governance. Kratsios, formerly of Scale AI, plans to advocate for what he called a "pro-growth vision for the future of emerging technologies."
The U.S. position centers on discouraging member countries from establishing new regulatory organizations to oversee AI development, the official said.
Industry leaders join policy discussions
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will appear before delegates alongside Lutnick on Wednesday. The administration has also scheduled video appearances from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Meta's Dina Powell McCormick, and venture capitalist David Sacks, a former White House AI adviser, for Tuesday's sessions.
The meeting represents one in a series of gatherings across U.S. cities leading to the G-20 leaders' summit scheduled for Miami in December.
Why it matters
The U.S. advocacy for minimal AI oversight comes as Chinese open-weight AI models—systems with publicly accessible core components—increasingly rival proprietary American systems from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. These Chinese-made models are gaining adoption among U.S. companies, creating potential security vulnerabilities if Chinese authorities choose to intervene. The administration's urgency reflects concerns about maintaining American technological leadership as alternatives emerge. "It has increased urgency for this administration to make sure that the rest of the world stays within the American tech ecosystem and doesn't seek alternatives," said Vivek Chilukuri, a technology and national security fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
Competing visions for AI governance
Canada plans to attend with a contrasting message, according to a government spokesperson. The Canadian delegation will advocate for balancing innovation with "public trust and safety"—a position that suggests support for more structured oversight than the U.S. proposal.
The policy debate unfolds as a United Nations panel recently warned that AI developments are outpacing both scientific understanding and government policy frameworks. Recent security incidents, including a hack triggered by a rogue OpenAI agent that compromised AI company Hugging Face's infrastructure, have heightened concerns about how closely leading AI companies monitor their product testing.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to Reuters' request for comment about attending the North Carolina meeting.
Reuters first reported these details.
This is an original analysis by the Omega editorial team. Source reporting: AI Watch.
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