Everything was set for a big signing ceremony today, but Trump pulled the plug at the last minute because he didn’t like the idea of the government vetting models for safety. He’s obsessed with beating China and keeping the “jobs” flowing, so he’s ditching the plan that would’ve forced OpenAI and Google to let the government peek under the hood. The irony is that his own team was sweating over a new model, Anthropic’s “Mythos”, because it’s so good at finding cyber holes that they’re terrified of it hitting the wild.
Trump calls off AI executive order over concern it could weaken US tech edge
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump called off plans to sign a new executive order on artificial intelligence hours before an expected White House ceremony Thursday because he said he was worried the measure could dull America’s edge on AI technology.
Trump said he was postponing the Oval Office event with tech industry executives because he did not like what he saw in the order’s text. “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,” Trump told reporters.
The order would have established a framework for the government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems before their public release, according to a person familiar with the White House’s deliberations with the tech industry but not authorized to speak about them publicly. The directive was being characterized as a voluntary collaboration with participating U.S.-based tech companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI and Google, the person said.
The push for some kind of government action to review leading AI systems follows growing concern within the banking industry and other institutions about the leaps in AI’s abilities to find cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the world’s software.