Zuckerberg Drafted Trump’s AI Accord, but Microsoft and Amazon Didn’t Sign
The idea emerged from last week’s state dinner for Xi Jinping. The one-page Trump AI accord requests labs implement four layers of safety controls, yet establishes no penalties or timeline.
A Summary of the Event:
- Date: 1 October 2026
- Location: White House, Washington D.C.
- Key Players: Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jensen Huang (NVIDIA), President Donald Trump, Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon)
Mark Zuckerberg, according to Semafor and Politico, authored the AI safety accord that President Trump signed on Tuesday. He also circulated the draft. Notably, Microsoft and Amazon declined to sign.
The inspiration for the accord stemmed from a conversation between Zuckerberg and House Speaker Mike Johnson during the state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. After discussing principles with NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, Zuckerberg drafted the document ahead of the White House lunch where CEOs agreed upon its content.
Five sources, as reported by Semafor, confirmed Zuckerberg’s role as the accord’s chief architect, with Huang and administration officials aiding in shaping the text before the meeting. Politico corroborated this account later on Wednesday.
Zuckerberg emphasized that this accord marks a starting point, aiming to establish a framework for the entire industry:
“The idea isn’t that this is the only thing that we will ever do. It is that this is a start and an accord that the whole industry could come to.”
Signatories of the Trump AI Accord:
- Mark Zuckerberg (Meta)
- Jensen Huang (NVIDIA)
- Sundar Pichai (Google)
- Dario Amodei (Anthropic)
- Greg Brockman (OpenAI)
- Elon Musk
- (Satya Nadella and Jeff Bezos were present but did not sign)
The Accord’s Requirements:
The accord asks each company to implement the following four layers of controls:
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Internal Monitoring: Ensure models are secure during training and deployment, mitigating cybersecurity, biosecurity, and chemical threats.
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Internal Team Check: Establish an internal team to verify the effectiveness of the monitoring system.
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External Auditor: Appoint an independent auditor or evaluator to assess the controls.
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Board Committee: Create a board committee that receives reports from the internal team and auditors, ensuring ongoing safety standards.
The accord suggests these steps "may make sense to codify into laws or regulations" in the future, but it currently lacks penalties or timelines for implementation.