{"id":13038,"date":"2026-05-21T20:14:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/21\/trump-calls-off-ai-executive-order-over-concern-it-could-weaken-us-tech-edge-ap-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T20:14:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:14:57","slug":"trump-calls-off-ai-executive-order-over-concern-it-could-weaken-us-tech-edge-ap-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/21\/trump-calls-off-ai-executive-order-over-concern-it-could-weaken-us-tech-edge-ap-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump calls off AI executive order over concern it could weaken US tech edge – AP News"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump<\/a><\/span> called off plans to sign a new executive order on artificial intelligence<\/a><\/span> hours before an expected White House ceremony Thursday because he said he was worried the measure could dull America\u2019s edge on AI technology.<\/p>\n

Trump said he was postponing the Oval Office event with tech industry executives because he did not like what he saw in the order\u2019s text. \u201cWe\u2019re leading China, we\u2019re leading everybody, and I don\u2019t want to do anything that\u2019s going to get in the way of that lead,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s deliberations with the tech industry but not authorized to speak about it 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s abilities<\/a><\/span> to find cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the world\u2019s software. <\/p>\n

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell convened an urgent meeting with Wall Street CEOs in April, warning them about the cybersecurity risks posed by Anthropic\u2019s AI model, Claude Mythos.<\/p>\n

The meeting, urgently assembled at the Treasury Department\u2019s headquarters, was intended to ensure that banks were aware of the risks associated with the models, Bessent said at CNBC\u2019s \u201cInvest in America Forum\u201d in Washington in April. \u201cThis new Anthropic model is very powerful,\u201d he said. \u201cSome banks are doing a better job in cybersecurity than others, and we want to have the ability to convene them and talk about what is best practices and where they should be heading.\u201d<\/p>\n

That led some allies of the Republican president to propose better methods for getting those AI tools in the hands of trusted cybersecurity experts. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s hopes for AI have run up against voters\u2019 fears of its impact <\/h2>\n

Trump had pledged to undo the AI safety regulations set by his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden. Trump\u2019s administration has viewed the AI sector as an engine to help deliver on his pledges<\/a><\/span> to expand the economy and he has promoted its major players at events at the White House and around the world. Last week, Trump had tech CEOs in tow<\/a><\/span> for a summit with China\u2019s Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s ambitions for the sector have collided with the fears of voters over the impact of the technology on American life<\/a><\/span>, jobs<\/a><\/span> and electricity bills<\/a><\/span>. Republicans themselves are divided over whether to embrace the AI industry or side with voters who express skepticism about the technology.<\/p>\n

Also complicating the government\u2019s interest in working with Anthropic on cybersecurity is the government\u2019s ongoing legal fight with the company. Trump in February ordered all U.S. agencies to stop using Anthropic\u2019s chatbot Claude after an unusually public clash<\/a><\/span> between the Pentagon and CEO Dario Amodei.<\/p>\n

There are competing factions within the administration, said Serena Booth, a computer science professor at Brown University and former AI policy fellow in a Democratic-led Senate committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do see this kind of public fighting,\u201d she said. \u201d\u2018We will release an executive order. No, we won\u2019t. We\u2019re going to sign it this afternoon. Oh, the signing is canceled.\u2019 I think this whiplash is because we\u2019re seeing these fractures.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of those divides are balancing what Booth said is a \u201creasonable idea\u201d to test the most capable AI models before their public release, with a concern that government scrutiny, if it takes too long, could burden AI developers. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt does come at a potential very large cost to innovation and speed of development,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is, I think, a real risk here and I do see both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House has pushed back against state laws<\/a><\/span> seeking to regulate AI, saying the measures could curb growth. A new executive order that could have been perceived as government screening of commercial AI models would have signaled a significant shift in the administration\u2019s approach. <\/p>\n

At the same time, similar screening is already happening. Trump\u2019s Commerce Department announced earlier this month that it signed agreements with Google, Microsoft and Elon Musk\u2019s xAI to evaluate their most powerful AI models before their public release, building on previous agreements the Biden administration made with Anthropic and OpenAI. But the announcement later disappeared from the Commerce Department website.<\/p>\n

White House describes a balance between safety and innovation<\/h2>\n

At a White House press briefing Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance declined to discuss specifics from the order but said the administration wants to promote innovation while also addressing cybersecurity threats and data privacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president wants us to be pro-innovation. He wants us to win the AI race against all other countries in the world,\u201d he said. Vance added, \u201cWe also want to make sure that we\u2019re protecting people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about new models that could pose security risks, Vance said the administration is taking a collaborative approach with tech companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also does have some downsides,\u201d he said, \u201cand we\u2019re trying to balance that safety against innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former White House tech policy adviser who was a lead author of Trump\u2019s AI policy roadmap said the disagreements likely represent \u201chealthy tension\u201d in an administration that has long been wary of regulating the \u201cfrontier AI\u201d companies like Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t want to do it because it\u2019s politically risky in a million different ways,\u201d said Dean Ball, now at the Foundation for American Innovation. Ball said he would welcome an executive order that would get those companies working more closely with the government on cybersecurity but \u201cultimately, I\u2019m fine with them taking time to get this right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014-<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien reported from Providence, R.I. Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 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\u2019s edge on AI technology. Trump said he was postponing the Oval Office event with tech industry executives because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}