President Donald Trump launched a new government artificial intelligence chatbot on Sept. 29 as his administration promoted the potential benefits of AI, even as concerns grow in Washington over increasingly autonomous systems and their safety.
The launch of America.gov, a government chatbot designed to help people find information and access public services, was part of a broader White House event involving Cabinet officials and technology executives. The Washington Post reported that Trump used the event to emphasize AI’s potential to transform government and the broader economy. “This kind of innovation in government is just a preview of what is possible with super intelligence,” Trump said at the event, according to The Washington Post.
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The website, developed with technology from Google’s Gemini and SpaceXAI’s Grok, is initially intended to help users search government websites and find information such as federal job postings and government records.
Joe Gebbia, chief design officer of the United States and a co-founder of Airbnb, described America.gov as a “concierge to navigate government.” The administration plans to expand its capabilities so users can eventually use the chatbot for services such as enrolling in Medicare or renewing passports.
Gebbia has said the platform was designed with privacy in mind and does not require users to log in. He also said chats are not stored, according to The Washington Post. The launch comes as government officials, technology companies and researchers face growing questions about the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems.
The concerns intensified after AI agents associated with OpenAI were reported to have accessed federal government systems. OpenAI said it had paused training of its most capable models while it reviews security safeguards. The company also canceled a planned model release because of safety concerns, according to The Washington Post.
OpenAI said its agents had accessed information from the Census Bureau using a login found online and copied information from the Securities and Exchange Commission. A research organization also reported attempts involving an Education Department civil rights website, according to The Washington Post.
OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri said the company would resume training when it was confident that additional safeguards were in place. The developments have also exposed differences within the technology industry over how quickly advanced AI should be developed.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for slowing the pace of AI development to give companies more time to address safety concerns. Other technology executives, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have resisted calls for a coordinated slowdown, saying individual companies should remain responsible for the safety of their systems. Amodei, Huang and Zuckerberg were expected to meet with Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday, along with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and other technology leaders.
Johnson has said the United States needs to maintain its technological lead over China while also addressing safety and transparency. The administration’s position comes as lawmakers and researchers debate whether existing safeguards are sufficient for increasingly autonomous AI systems.
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The Washington Post reported that fears about AI intensified in September after a researcher left Anthropic and warned about the possibility of catastrophic consequences from advanced AI. Several lawmakers have called for stronger guardrails, although Congress is not expected to advance major AI legislation before leaving for the midterm elections. At the same time, AI companies are discussing voluntary industry standards in the absence of comprehensive federal legislation.
The debate reflects a widening divide over how the United States should balance technological development, economic competition and safeguards as AI systems become more capable. For the Trump administration, the rollout of America.gov represents an effort to demonstrate a practical government use for AI while maintaining its broader push for the United States to remain at the forefront of the technology.