Trump signs AI executive order to give government early look at new models

Washington — President Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order meant to enhance artificial security and innovation by, among other things, establishing a program for AI companies to voluntarily share powerful new models with the government before they are released to the public.

He delayed signing a version of the AI order nearly two weeks ago because he was concerned it would get “in the way” of the United States leading China and other competitors in the AI space. 

The executive order the president ultimately signed on Tuesday emphasizes that the federal government doesn’t want to stifle innovation: “The United States continues to lead the world in Artificial Intelligence (AI) because of the enormous talent and innovation of our AI industry, and because we refuse to stifle this innovation with overly burdensome regulation.”

The order aims to both use AI to sure up the nation’s federal cybersecurity systems for the use of AI and using the technology; develop a classified benchmarking process to identify “frontier” models for AI, or systems that are at the forefront of the field; and work with companies willing to voluntarily give the federal government access to such frontier models for up to 30 days before release. 

The ability of frontier models to identify long-overlooked software vulnerabilities in crucial systems has raised concerns that they could be used for nefarious purposes. Anthropic, one of the leading AI labs, announced in April that it would be providing its new model, Mythos, to select partners to allow them to harden their defenses against cyberattacks before the technology is available more broadly.

The president’s executive order emphasizes the voluntary nature of any AI company collaboration with the federal government, and that it doesn’t prohibit AI innovators from advancing their technology.

“Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the creation of a mandatory governmental licensing, preclearance, or permitting requirement for the development, publication, release, or distribution of new AI models, including frontier models,” the order says. 

On cybersecurity concerns, the executive order calls on the homeland security secretary to establish and expand federal cybersecurity programs that enhance AI defensive tools. It also calls on the treasury secretary, defense secretary, director of the National Security Agency and homeland security secretary, working with AI operators, to set up an AI cybersecurity clearance house to look for software vulnerabilities.

The White House never released the original draft the president was previously expected to sign. But Mr. Trump offered an explanation for why he didn’t sign it. 

“Because I didn’t like certain aspects of it, I postponed it,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “I think it gets in the way of, you know, we’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that lead.”