Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he did not want to take any action that would slow the U.S. down in its AI race with China, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday (May 21). The order would have asked AI companies to preview models with the federal government before public release.
The order emerged from growing concerns inside the administration about cybersecurity risks tied to increasingly powerful AI systems, the report said. Those concerns escalated following the release of Anthropic’s Mythos model, which officials and business leaders flagged because it can identify software vulnerabilities at an advanced level and could therefore be capable of cyberattacks. OpenAI is previewing a similar model to customers and, like Anthropic, is limiting access with the government’s input.
The order would have asked national security and cyber officials to work with agency leaders and top AI companies to address software vulnerabilities identified by these powerful models, according to the report.
A separate cybersecurity section would have established a voluntary clearinghouse, led by the Treasury Department, to find and fix security vulnerabilities in unreleased models.
The order’s goal was to protect small institutions like community hospitals and banks that lack resources for sophisticated cyber defenses, the report said. Vice President JD Vance said at a Tuesday (May 19) briefing that the administration is working to balance safety and innovation.
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The White House notified tech company representatives of the postponement hours before a scheduled signing that was set to include industry executives, according to the report. It said the signing would be rescheduled.
In March, the White House introduced a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence. It is a set of legislative recommendations the administration said is designed to help U.S. industry innovate while letting the public benefit from the technology and providing a consistent national policy.
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