The Trump administration is urging the world’s largest economies to avoid creating new regulations specifically for AI, putting the U.S. on a different path from governments seeking tighter oversight of the technology.
Reuters reported that U.S. technology adviser Michael Kratsios is using a two-day G20 meeting in North Carolina beginning today to promote what the administration calls the “Carolina Principles,” a framework intended to encourage AI development while relying largely on existing regulators rather than creating new AI-specific rules or agencies.
“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,” he said.
The principles call for governments to support basic AI research, encourage commercial development and avoid regulations that could impede innovation. The U.S. also wants governments to address risks from AI using existing laws and institutions where possible.
The approach contrasts most sharply with the European Union, which is implementing its AI Act, including requirements for high-risk AI applications and developers of advanced general-purpose models.
The meeting comes as governments are struggling to balance AI’s potential economic benefits against concerns ranging from job displacement and misinformation to cybersecurity and autonomous AI systems.
The debate matters for multinational companies because increasingly divergent national rules could force them to operate the same AI systems under different requirements depending on where they are deployed.
Executives from major AI companies are also participating in the G20 gathering. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are expected to appear tomorrow, while SpaceXAI founder Elon Musk is scheduled to participate remotely.