Trump Tells UN He Will Reject International AI Rules, Wants US to Rebrand the Technology 'Super Intelligence'

Since Monday's rally pushed the Nasdaq Composite to a record close of 27,122, Wall Street pulled back into a mixed, choppy session Tuesday as President Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly and gave investors less clarity than they wanted on Iran.

As of 1:13 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 236 points, or 0.45%, to 51,812, according to Yahoo Finance. The Economic Times had the Dow off a steeper 305 points, or 0.59%, later in the session. The Nasdaq gained between 0.23% and 0.33% depending on the timestamp, touching 27,184, while the S&P 500 was essentially flat, moving between a 0.02% loss and a 0.07% loss across the two outlets' live updates.

Oil pared its recent losses. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.14% Tuesday, per Yahoo Finance, after a report surfaced earlier in the week that a senior Iranian official told Reuters Tehran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if Washington eases military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports. The strait handles roughly 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas shipments, according to the Epoch Times.

Trump on Iran: no deal before the midterms

Speaking to the General Assembly, Trump said he believes the US and Iran "will eventually reach a deal," but not right away. "I believe we'll make a deal with Iran after the election," he said, according to NDTV Profit, adding the two countries would get an agreement done "one way or the other." He said he would not let the November midterms drive his Iran timeline, while repeating that Washington will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon.

Trump also predicted oil prices would "plummet" once the conflict ends, telling the UN that more crude is flowing now than at any point since fighting started. No direct meeting between Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian was scheduled at the UN gathering, per NDTV Profit.

Trump rejects international AI oversight, wants a rebrand

Trump rejected calls for international regulation of artificial intelligence, calling such proposals a "globalist scheme" to control the technology, according to the Economic Times. He also said the US government would start calling AI "super intelligence," arguing the term is "more appealing and accurate."

No binding international AI safety accord currently exists, and Trump's remarks did not announce any new US regulatory action, just a rejection of outside oversight and a preferred name change. Proponents of coordinated international AI governance, including researchers who study frontier-model risk, argue that increasingly capable systems pose risks that cross borders by design and that no single government can set safety standards alone. Trump's position, as delivered to the UN, is that framing AI oversight as a global project is really an attempt by outside powers to constrain a technology where the US currently leads.

The speech came as investors look ahead to Wednesday's summit between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling preliminary US-China talks "very successful" and traders hoping for an extended trade truce and cooperation on AI, per Yahoo Finance.

Meta's Muse gets a human backup, and other movers

Meta shares, which jumped 11% Monday after its Muse AI agent app hit the top of the App Store, kept climbing Tuesday. PayPal rose over 2% after announcing a partnership letting customers shop online through Muse, according to Yahoo Finance.

But Reuters reported, via the Economic Times, that Meta has been testing a "human concierge" feature for Muse, quietly routing some phone calls placed through the AI agent to human contractors. Some Meta employees raised privacy concerns internally, warning sensitive information could reach call-center staff unintentionally. A Meta spokesperson said employee response has been "overwhelmingly positive" and that the test is meant to build in "safety and privacy protections" before any public rollout, a company statement that has not been independently verified against the internal posts Reuters cited.

Elsewhere, Viking Therapeutics stock soared more than 25% after its experimental obesity drug showed 22% weight loss in a clinical trial, with early signs it could help patients maintain that loss with less frequent injections, per Yahoo Finance. AutoZone beat profit expectations but missed on revenue in results reported Tuesday morning. KB Home was scheduled to report quarterly results later Tuesday.

Whether the Trump-Xi summit Wednesday produces anything concrete on tariffs or AI cooperation remains to be seen. Freedom Capital Markets' Jay Woods told Kiplinger that a breakdown in talks could "revive trade-war concerns and market volatility" that Tuesday's flat session has so far avoided.