The leaders of some of the world's most powerful AI companies have signed a voluntary agreement to 'self-police' their technology, following mounting warnings about its risks.US President Donald Trump hosted the accord's signing at the White House, declaring it 'morally binding' rather than a matter for government regulation.OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, xAI and Nvidia have committed to internal risk reviews, external audits and board oversight of their AI systems, according to Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. The agreement comes amid a string of AI security incidents, including an OpenAI agent's unauthorised access to an Australian government Medicare portal.Is self-regulation enough to keep AI safe?CreditsTanya Dendrinos, ReporterImage DetailsUS President Donald Trump speaks with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the White House driveway following a luncheon for tech leaders in the East Room(Reuters: Kevin Lamarque)Program:More from ABC News Top StoriesTranscriptTanya Dendrinos: Forget the space race, it's the artificial intelligence, or according to US President Donald Trump, super intelligence race, he wants America to win.Donald Trump, US President: We have a very big lead and we're going to keep our lead.Tanya Dendrinos: Sitting at the centre of a long boardroom table in the White House, President Trump was full of praise for the who's who of the tech game he was flanked by and their ambitions.Donald Trump: There are those that say it's bigger than the industrial revolution. Now, I don't know if that's so, but everyone seems to think it is.Tanya Dendrinos: The meeting was called to address Americans' concerns about AI and discuss regulation, but that responsibility it seems will largely fall on the tech companies themselves.Donald Trump: I'm seeing tremendous self policing, and they understand that they have to self police. And it's very hard for somebody to come out, say get into these models, these models are very complex. And again, I believe they're gonna be used for the good. And when they're not, we're gonna be able to nab them. But there's going to be a tremendous self policing aspect.Tanya Dendrinos: Donald Trump signing a joint commitment alongside the leaders of Google, Anthropic, Meta, OpenAI, XAI and Nvidia. As for whether it will be binding in any way.Donald Trump: I think it's morally binding, yeah.Tanya Dendrinos: When challenged, the president downplayed concerns around risk.Donald Trump, US President: Their companies are at stake. If something goes wrong, their companies are at stake. They're not going to let that happen.This is going to be all for the good and we're going to have it be nice and safe and they're really going to be policing each other.Tanya Dendrinos: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has been vocal about the threats that AI poses and the need to mitigate them.Dario Amodei, Anthropic chief executive: AI has incredible benefits. I've talked about the medical benefits of the technology. As the president has said, whoever wins AI wins. I think that's very important. But I think the technology has very real risks and the mechanism, how we address those risks is still under discussion.Tanya Dendrinos: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg explains the accord the leaders have signed up to.Mark Zuckerberg, Meta chief executive: We drafted a set of principles and commitments around building robust internal controls and detecting if there are any issues with the technology coupled with multiple layers of auditing and controls starting with internal risk review, external auditors and evaluators, and agreeing that we're going to have all of our boards of directors independently review the reports that come from the auditors.Tanya Dendrinos: Sam Spencer is the CEO of Aristotle Metadata and an adjunct professor in data governance at the University of Canberra. He's not convinced about a self-policing model.Sam Spencer, Aristotle Metadata chief executive: Self-regulation through industry has been fraught with errors, it's been fraught with under observation of regulatory issues in the past. And I think, you know, when you layer on top of that companies that are coming out and saying, our products are going to destroy the world, somebody needs to step in and stop us. No, no, you cannot trust these people.Tanya Dendrinos: Australia is looking to take a vastly different approach. Revelations last week of an open AI Medicare portal breach back in June has prompted the government to bolster its cybersecurity systems while it's also pushing for tougher rules to force companies to immediately report rogue AI incidents and breaches. Home Affairs has now issued a directive to all government departments and agencies to conduct an urgent review of their cyber systems. The government has committed to introducing legislation to set out national AI standards and guardrails before the end of the year.