US President Donald Trump drew laughs at the White House when he called Google CEO Sundar Pichai a 'monster' while speaking to reporters alongside leading AI executives. Trump made the comment outside the White House after a lunch with heads of major AI and technology firms. Executives from Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Nvidia attended.
Trump invited Pichai to say a few words. Moments after Pichai began with a word of thanks, Trump cut in and called him a monster whom hardly anyone knows, videos of the exchange show.
A backhanded compliment
The remark appeared to be meant as praise. Trump suggested that a tech leader of Pichai's stature does not have to face the press the way politicians do. He then asked reporters to remember the name, adding that it is Sundar.
Pichai took it in good humour. He quipped that he hoped for a better tagline than 'monster'. The executives around him were seen laughing.
'Be careful,' Trump tells Amodei
Trump also had a light exchange with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. He called Amodei up beside him and told reporters the executive had only said 'okay', then turned to him and said, "Be careful."
Amodei laughed. He then stressed that the US must keep its lead in AI and that technology companies need to work together to keep the technology's development safe.
Voluntary safety agreement unveiled
The light moments came alongside a more serious agenda. Attendees included Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI President Greg Brockman. Trump presented a one-page voluntary AI safety agreement.
Under the framework, companies would put safeguards in place, including internal monitoring and independent audits of AI systems during development and deployment. It is not a federal regulation and carries no legal force.
Scrutiny of autonomous AI
The agreement comes as AI companies face growing scrutiny over autonomous agents, cybersecurity incidents and the risks of systems that act with greater independence. Anthropic and OpenAI have both publicly backed regulation as the safety debate has intensified.
