Trump's AI executive order nears key deadline as regulation debate intensifies
OpenAI's Sam Altman and Nvidia's Jensen Huang were among tech leaders in Washington, D.C., ahead of a deadline the White House set in its AI executive order.
President Donald Trump signed his AI executive order in early June, giving federal agencies 60 days to create a framework for its implementation. The deadline of August 1 has garnered significant attention, particularly in Silicon Valley, where AI regulation remains a contentious issue. Tech leaders such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited Washington, D.C., this week to meet with lawmakers and administration officials, aiming to influence upcoming decisions.
The order asks AI companies to voluntarily submit their models for government evaluation before their public release. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and other officials are working to finalize the specifics. The White House confirmed they would meet the deadline they set for themselves.
OpenAI and Anthropic representatives have not yet commented on the status of the framework. Altman believed he had seen a draft of the framework but had no specific changes in mind. The deadline occurs at a critical juncture for AI development in the U.S., as powerful leaders within the tech industry debate the appropriate level of regulation and whether OpenAI and Anthropic, leading model developers, should wield significant influence over the future.
Recently, open-weight models from China have demonstrated rapid capability advancements, sparking a debate in the tech sector about whether the Trump administration should restrict or ban these models. Notably, industry leaders have united in opposing any potential ban. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently released a letter urging policymakers to avoid premature restrictions on open-weight models, garnering support from Elon Musk and Microsoft, among others.
OpenAI joined the letter but Anthropic did not, opting to express its stance in a separate blog post. The administration has not officially commented on the matter, although former AI advisor David Sacks has been vocal in opposing any ban. The Trump executive order, which includes a classified benchmarking process to assess cyber capabilities and determine if models should be considered 'covered frontier models,' aims to encourage collaboration between companies and the government in determining 'trusted partners' with access to those models.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic have previously had to limit the rollout of their models due to export control directives from the Commerce Department.
Written by urgent.news from CNBC World's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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