Johnson says no moratorium on AI, would give China competitive edge

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday there cannot be a moratorium on artificial intelligence development without losing the competitive edge to China and that AI companies can regulate themselves.

"They can self-regulate. They don't need the government to tell them to slow it down. If they want to slow it down, they should," Johnson told reporters. "We cannot have a moratorium on the development of AI, Ok? Because then we will lose our edge to China, and that has serious national security implications for every American family."

Johnson said he was sure AI would be a topic of discussion between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet in Washington later this month.

"I'm sure they need to, you know, keep tabs and make commitments to one another," Johnson said, rejecting the idea of a transnational agency to regulate AI.

Johnson said he spoke to Trump on Monday night and they are summoning executives of AI providers - "all the big names that you know" - to come to the White House within the next week for an important meeting.

The approach to putting guardrails on AI has to be done in a balanced and thoughtful way, Johnson said.

"I think you need independent auditors. I think you need transparency from the people who are developing this. I think there's some there's some really important ideas that can be guardrails," he said.