U.S. pushes G20 against sweeping AI rules as tech leaders stake out rival positions
By Courtney Rozen and JC Whittington
CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday pressed Group of 20 members to keep AI regulation minimal, urging countries not to craft bespoke rules for the technology at a gathering that brought together commerce ministers and some of the industry's most powerful executives.
Washington's position tracks closely with the interests of the world's biggest AI companies, most of them American. Executives have warned that broad regulation could slow model releases, force costly changes to product designs, and undercut profits at a moment when investors are pouring billions into the sector.
Michael Kratsios, the U.S. technology adviser co-hosting the two-day meeting, pushed countries to endorse what he called the "Carolina Principles." In a morning speech to delegates, he said governments that signed on agreed to avoid creating a separate category of AI-specific regulation and instead focus on rules for "novel" situations that existing frameworks do not cover.
"Policymakers do not need to approach each innovation in isolation and should not treat every emerging technology as a first-of-its-kind policy problem," Kratsios said.
He told reporters Tuesday afternoon that China's government had signed the principles, although he did not provide a copy of the document. The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China's Minister of Science and Technology, Yin Hejun, represented Beijing at the meeting. Kratsios described his bilateral meeting with Yin as "great."
Industry voices, competing asks
The summit featured conflicting messages from prominent tech leaders about how far oversight should go.
Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis called on G20 officials to set up safety tests for advanced AI systems. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg argued countries should not restrict open-weight AI models, whose core components are publicly accessible. Zuckerberg has spent recent weeks positioning Meta as a champion of the open-weight approach; tighter rules could blunt those ambitions.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, criticized European Union tech regulations, saying the bloc's policy "inhibits progress" for companies. He also urged leaders outside China to develop new energy sources to power the data centers that AI increasingly relies on. Data-center development has become a political flashpoint in the United States ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, with voters in some regions scrutinizing candidates' positions on local projects.
Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown is expected to address the group on Wednesday, according to a company spokesperson. Reuters previously reported that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will appear separately before delegates with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday.
Safety concerns mount
The policy discussions take place against growing unease about whether AI development is outpacing oversight. A United Nations panel recently warned that advances in AI are moving faster than scientific understanding and government policy.
Recent incidents have reinforced those worries. A hack triggered by a rogue OpenAI agent compromised infrastructure at AI company Hugging Face, raising fresh questions about how closely leading labs monitor tests of their own products. AI agents are programs that operate with minimal human supervision.
China's shadow
The gathering also comes as the United States faces a more capable competitor. Chinese open-weight AI models have narrowed the gap with proprietary systems from American companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI. Those models are gaining adoption inside U.S. companies, creating a potential security risk if Beijing decides to interfere.
"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.
The Chapel Hill meeting is one of several events leading up to the G20 leaders' summit in Miami in December.
Outside the venue, a handful of protesters voiced opposition to the agenda. John Montavon, a North Carolina resident, said he disagreed with Musk's push for expanded data centers, arguing their power needs would make the planet warmer.
"Mr. Musk has shown he is completely disassociated from the reality that most of us live in," Montavon said.
(Reporting by Courtney Rozen and JC Whittington; Editing by David Gaffen, Hugh Lawson, Louise Heavens, Alistair Bell, Andrea Ricci, Rod Nickel)