Technology

Silicon Valley AI founders welcome Trump's hands-off approach to AI regulation

Venture capitalists and AI founders praised the White House stance at Tech Week, even as the FTC opened an AI investigation.

Updated Oct 10, 2026 · 10:13 UTC2 reports

The short version

At Tech Week in San Francisco, venture capitalists and AI founders praised the White House's hands-off approach to AI regulation.[ABC News · Associated Press]
Trump hosted tech leaders in Washington for a ceremonial signing of a voluntary 308-word AI safety pact.[ABC News · Associated Press]
Three OpenAI researchers said the company fired them and posted that fear and unclear rules stymie AI safety work; the timing between those events is not established.[ABC News · Associated Press]
The FTC opened an investigation into OpenAI, Anthropic and other companies over consumer dangers, while former OpenAI safety leader David Robinson says self-policing is no substitute for hard law.[ABC News · Associated Press]

Venture capitalists and AI founders at Tech Week in San Francisco expressed enthusiasm for the White House's hands-off approach to regulating AI.[ABC News · Associated Press]
Trump hosted tech leaders in Washington late last month for a luncheon and ceremonial signing of a voluntary 308-word AI safety pact.[ABC News · Associated Press]
PitchBook's Kyle Stanford said $13.5 billion of a $1 trillion defense spending plan would go to autonomous systems and AI.[ABC News · Associated Press]
Three OpenAI researchers said the company fired them, and a statement they posted said fear and unclear rules stymie AI safety work.[ABC News · Associated Press]
On his first day of a second term, Trump repealed a Biden-era executive order aimed in part at guarding against risks posed by AI systems.[ABC News · Associated Press]
In December, Trump signed an executive order aimed at blocking state-level AI regulations.[ABC News · Associated Press]
After last month's luncheon, the FTC said it had opened an investigation into OpenAI, Anthropic and other companies over dangers their technology may pose to consumers.[ABC News · Associated Press]

The reporting does not establish whether the researchers' statement came before or after their firing.[ABC News · Associated Press]
Whether self-policing works is disputed; former FTC senior AI adviser Sarah Myers West says the approach has consistently failed.[ABC News · Associated Press]
The administration has not yet provided details on how the pact's safety protocols would prevent harmful outcomes.[ABC News]

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.