EU to discuss global AI rules as Trump calls safety fears a ‘hoax’

Government officials from across the European Union will gather in Brussels on Thursday to discuss how to set global rules to counter threats posed by advanced AI models, according to two EU diplomats and a draft agenda seen by Politico.politico

The meeting of the EU's Artificial Intelligence Board, which comprises representatives from every member country, comes at a charged moment: top AI industry leaders are calling for a slowdown in development, while the Trump administration has dismissed safety concerns as a "hoax."

A Meeting Shaped by Industry Alarm

The European Commission will provide "updates on EU and international AI policy" and deliver a "technical briefing on recent AI incidents" during Thursday's session, Politico reported. The gathering follows a wave of calls from leading AI executives to temper the pace of development. On September 12, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published a 3,800-word essay titled "We Must Pace the Frontier," arguing that labs should deliberately cap the speed of capability gains to let safety research catch up. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly endorsed the proposal, pledging to adopt Amodei's suggestion of independent evaluators with employee-level access.shattered+2

EU tech commissioner Henna Virkkunen has backed the push for global AI rules in the wake of recent warnings from researchers. The AI Board meeting will be the ninth since its formation and follows a commitment by EU heads of state earlier this year to hold a first-ever AI roundtable of national leaders.digital-strategy.europa+2

Trump Widens the Transatlantic Gap

The Brussels gathering takes place against a starkly different backdrop in Washington. On Monday, President Trump dismissed AI safety fears as a "hoax," comparing them to "the Global Warming Scam" in a series of Truth Social posts. "The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT," Trump wrote, according to Axios. Speaking by phone to an audience of tech executives, Trump said, "The robots are not going to be taking over the world".bbc+3

Trump's AI adviser David Sacks has portrayed AI alarmism as the work of a "Doomer Industrial Complex," framing the safety debate as a coordinated effort tied to political opponents. The stance deepens a transatlantic rift on AI governance that has grown since the EU AI Act entered into force in August 2024.axios+1

The EU's Regulatory Head Start

The EU already has the world's most comprehensive AI law on the books. New transparency rules for AI systems took effect on August 2, and high-risk AI requirements for standalone systems are set to apply from December 2027 after extensions under the 2026 omnibus amendments. Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, speaking at a conference in Oslo this week, argued that places like China have implemented more AI user protections than the United States and called for international collaboration to hold tech companies accountable.devdiscourse+2

Whether Thursday's meeting produces concrete steps toward a global framework remains to be seen, but the EU appears determined to press ahead — with or without Washington.