Trump, Jensen Huang and Elon Musk try to calm voter fears about AI

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump convened a gathering of prominent AI executives at the White House to address growing concerns about the technology's impact. These fears, which include job displacement, data center environmental concerns, and cybersecurity incidents, have become increasingly prevalent among US voters. However, Trump has previously dismissed these worries as "a hoax."

During the event, Trump unveiled a new AI-driven government website and dismissed calls for stricter regulations on AI development. Later, he hosted a lunch with dozens of tech and AI executives, including Alex Karp from Palantir, Lisa Su from AMD, Satya Nadella from Microsoft, Jeff Bezos from Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg from Meta, Dario Amodei from Anthropic, Jensen Huang from Nvidia, and Sundar Pichai from Google.

All of these executives signed a "morally binding" agreement to regulate AI without providing the details of the agreement. Trump also signed an executive order to change the term "AI" to "super intelligence," which would be used in all US government documents.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO, defended the meeting and the agreement during a press conference. The chairman stated that these steps were positive and were not the only measures to be taken.

Meanwhile, a new Quinnipiac University poll conducted ahead of the midterm elections revealed that 73% of voters oppose the construction of AI data centers in their communities. This sentiment is likely to benefit Democratic candidates who are often seen as more supportive of AI regulation. According to the poll, 51% of voters would prefer a Democratic Party win in the US House of Representatives, compared to 39% who favor the Republicans retaining control.

The poll also suggested that voters trust Democrats more on issues related to the economy, international conflicts, healthcare, and government corruption. As a result, independent voters are increasingly aligning with the Democratic Party, with Quinnipiac's polling analyst Tim Malloy stating that "voters say they would be more likely to vote for candidates who agree with that course."