Trump signs narrower executive order on AI oversight after industry objections

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday designed to give the government a chance to review powerful AI models before they are released. 

The order asks certain AI companies to voluntarily submit their new models to the government for testing or evaluation 30 days before releasing the products to the public. A previous draft of the order had called for a voluntary review up to 90 days in advance, though AI industry insiders had pushed for something closer to a two-week window.

Trump had been slated to sign the more demanding version of the order in late May, but delayed after industry pushback, including from venture capitalist and former White House AI czar David Sacks. The president said at the time that he didn’t want to do anything to get in AI firms’ way of leading against China. 

“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,” reads the order, published Tuesday. 

Trump had planned to sign the EO with a bevy of Silicon Valley’s top CEOs in attendance, but ended up signing the current version privately.

In addition to the voluntary governmental AI model review, the EO directs the Department of Justice to treat crimes like AI-assisted hacking and unauthorized access as a high-priority enforcement area. 

This isn’t the president’s first EO on AI. Last December, Trump signed an order directing the development of “one rulebook,” or a national AI policy framework, intended to preempt state AI laws.