Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, is headed to Washington, D.C., for a round of meetings with congressional leaders and officials from President Donald Trump's administration as the White House moves to shape U.S. policy on artificial intelligence.

An OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC that Altman planned to visit the White House and also speak with lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

The discussions follow Trump's executive order signed earlier this week that asks AI companies to voluntarily let the federal government review their models for as long as 30 days before launch. The order didn't spell out many specifics, but several AI executives publicly welcomed it.

Altman backed the directive in a post on X, writing, "The U.S. should lead on AI by continuing to develop the very best models, making sure they’re safe, and getting cyber tools into the hands of trusted defenders. The new EO gets the balance right."

OpenAI published a blog post earlier this week entitled "Our views on AI policy and political advocacy," which detailed the company's policy surrounding politics.

"We want to be explicit: no outside political group speaks for OpenAI or represents our company's views," the post said. 

"OpenAI's policy views should be judged by what we say and do publicly, and we should be held to a high standard. We believe AI policy is too consequential to be treated as just another front in partisan politics," the note continued.

The company also said it has not donated to any political campaigns or candidates and that it “supports thoughtful regulation, rigorous testing of powerful AI systems, strong safety standards, public accountability, and broad access to AI’s benefits.” It added, “We will keep making that case directly, transparently, and in our own name,” the note concluded.

OpenAI has been a regular presence on Capitol Hill since its ChatGPT release in 2022 helped accelerate interest in generative AI, and Altman has returned multiple times for policy conversations. 

Altman met lawmakers back in March after the company reached a controversial agreement with the Pentagon and attended Trump's inauguration last year.

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