Trump postpones AI executive order, citing fears it could hinder America's lead in AI

Trump delays AI security executive order: 'I don't want to get in the way of that leading' | TechCrunch

President Donald Trump has delayed signing an executive order that would allow the government to evaluate AI models before they're released. Trump claimed he is not happy with the language of the order: "I didn't like certain aspects of it," he told the White House press pool. "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 leading." The unofficial reason: Not enough tech CEOs could make it to Washington, D.C. on short notice, according to several reports. And what's an executive order signing without a photo op? The anticipated executive order would have tasked the Office of the National Cyber Director and other agencies with developing a process to evaluate AI models for security before their release. This is partly in response to concerns from the release of Anthropic's Mythos and OpenAI's GPT-5.5 Cyber -- both of which can quickly find and exploit security vulnerabilities. One of the key sticking points in the EO's language, per CNN, is a proposed requirement for AI companies to share advanced models with the government between 14 and 90 days ahead of launch. Trump said he was concerned that the EO's language today "could have been a blocker."

Trump postpones AI executive order signing: 'I didn't like certain aspects'

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he postponed an upcoming signing ceremony for his administration's much-anticipated executive order on the artificial intelligence industry. The event, which was set for later Thursday afternoon, was delayed "because I didn't like certain aspects of it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The U.S. is ahead of China and the rest of the world on AI and "I don't want to do anything that's going to get in the way of that lead," Trump said. He added that AI is "causing tremendous good," and he was concerned that the executive order "could have been a blocker." The postponement was first reported earlier Thursday by Axios. The White House referred CNBC to Trump's remarks when asked for comment on the delay.

Trump says he's calling off widely anticipated order to rein in AI | Fortune

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 push for some kind of government action to vet the most powerful 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. 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's AI model, Claude Mythos. The meeting, urgently assembled at the Treasury Department's headquarters, was intended to ensure that banks were aware of the risks associated with the models, Bessent said at CNBC's "Invest in America Forum" in Washington in April. "This new Anthropic model is very powerful," he said. "Some 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." That led some allies of the Republican president to propose better methods for getting those AI tools in the hands of trusted cybersecurity experts. Trump had pledged to undo the AI safety regulations set by his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden. Trump's administration has viewed the AI sector as an engine to help deliver on his pledges 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 for a summit with China's Xi Jinping. Trump's ambitions for the sector have collided with the fears of voters over the impact of the technology on American life, jobs and electricity bills. Republicans themselves are divided on whether to embrace the AI industry or side with voters expressing skepticism about the technology. 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. "We do see this kind of public fighting," she said. "'We will release an executive order. No, we won't. We're going to sign it this afternoon. Oh, the signing is canceled.' I think this whiplash is because we're seeing these fractures.'" Some of those divides are balancing what Booth said is a "reasonable idea" 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. "It does come at a potential very large cost to innovation and speed of development," she said. "There is, I think, a real risk here and I do see both sides." The White House has pushed back against state laws 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's approach. 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. "The president wants us to be pro-innovation. He wants us to win the AI race against all other countries in the world," he said. Vance added, "We also want to make sure that we're protecting people." Asked about new models that could pose security risks, Vance said the administration is taking a collaborative approach with tech companies. "It also does have some downsides," he said, "and we're trying to balance that safety against innovation." -- - O'Brien reported from Providence, R.I. Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.

Trump Halts AI Order Over Fears It Could Hurt US Edge Over China - Decrypt

Trump also said Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged the U.S. lead in AI during a meeting last week. President Donald Trump said Thursday he halted a planned signing ceremony for his administration's AI executive order after deciding parts of the proposal could undermine the U.S. position in the global AI race with China. "I didn't like certain aspects of it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "I think it gets in the way of -- 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 did not specify which specific provisions he opposed or say when the administration might revisit the order. Trump's comment came during a press conference announcing the administration's rollback of environmental regulations affecting refrigeration equipment, part of a broader deregulation push the White House says will lower costs for consumers, protect jobs, and reverse Biden-era policies it considers harmful to industry. First announced earlier this month, the executive order would have established a voluntary AI review framework under which participating companies would provide the federal government with early access to advanced models before public release for national security and capability testing. The proposal would also have allowed critical infrastructure providers, including banks, to receive pre-release access to covered models, and included a cybersecurity provision aimed at identifying vulnerabilities in unreleased AI models. The proposed executive order comes as U.S. officials grow increasingly concerned about the national security implications of advanced AI models, particularly after Anthropic's Claude Mythos demonstrated the ability to identify hundreds of software vulnerabilities and autonomously execute complex cyber operations during testing. At the same time, AI companies including OpenAI, Google, and xAI have expanded partnerships with U.S. defense and intelligence agencies, with the NSA already running Mythos on classified networks despite an ongoing feud with Anthropic, according to Axios. Despite the legal fight with Anthropic, Trump said he supports AI development and views the technology as a source of economic growth, but argued the executive order risked creating unnecessary obstacles for the industry. "I really thought that could have been a blocker and I want to make sure that it's not," he said. During the press conference, Trump said he discussed AI with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting last week. "He acknowledges how well we're doing," Trump said. "It was the two of us -- the two countries are fighting for it. Other countries are way behind. I postponed that signing because I didn't like what I was seeing."

Trump abruptly scraps signing of landmark executive order regulating AI

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday.,Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images President Trump abruptly delayed the signing of a landmark executive order on AI Thursday afternoon, telling reporters that he had pulled the order at the last minute because it could interfere with American competitiveness on AI. "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, answering reporters' questions in the Oval Office during an unrelated event, said about America's AI industry. "I really thought [the order] could have been a blocker." The order, reportedly in development for weeks, was expected to direct federal agencies to shore up key cybersecurity defenses and work with the world's leading AI companies on a voluntary basis to test advanced models before they are public, according to two people familiar with the draft. The order's planned debut came less than two months after AI company Anthropic's Mythos Preview model demonstrated the novel ability to autonomously discover thousands of severe and critical cyber vulnerabilities, including in leading operating systems and web browsers. Vice President JD Vance said in a press conference on Wednesday that the administration was prioritizing "protecting people's data" and "people's privacy" in the wake of Mythos' debut. A "bad actor could use Mythos to target various cybersecurity vulnerabilities," he said. "Right now, we're working in a collaborative way with the technology companies, and we're just trying to make sure that the American people are as safe as possible." Anthropic has not released Mythos publicly and instead shared access with a select group of technology companies and government agencies to bolster their cybersecurity defenses. The executive order would formalize how the federal government oversees the most advanced AI models, according to the sources. The document is split into two main sections: one focused on cybersecurity and the other on testing and vetting frontier AI models. The order would direct several groups -- including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the White House's Office of the National Cyber Director and the Office of Science and Technology Policy -- to establish methods to determine which AI models should fall under the new voluntary testing regime. The order would then charge administration officials with creating a new framework for the government to access and evaluate yet-to-be-released models in conjunction with leading AI companies. The testing arrangements would be voluntary, according to the sources. American tech companies and administration officials have often pointed to regulations with more stringent requirements, like the EU's AI Act, as a potential threat to American innovation. The cybersecurity section lays out several new initiatives designed to strengthen national security and Defense Department systems against AI-fueled cyberattacks, according to the people familiar with the matter. The order would also lay out a directive to promote the use of AI tools to strengthen critical infrastructure, including utility companies and rural hospitals. The administration has already partnered with some of America's leading AI companies to test models for safety concerns before they are released. Those evaluations are run by the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI), housed within the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). A recent announcement about expanded pre-deployment testing between CAISI and Microsoft, Google and xAI was removed from NIST's website several days after it was posted. On his first day in office, Trump repealed one of President Joe Biden's key AI executive orders, which laid out its own method for establishing which AI models were considered most advanced or highest risk. Biden's order, unlike the planned order from Trump, required leading AI companies to share the results of internal testing, security protocols and other development details.

Trump Postpones Signing Artificial Intelligence Order Out of Concern It Would Hurt the AI Industry

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump called off a signing ceremony Thursday for a new order on artificial intelligence because he worried it could dull America's edge on AI technology. Trump said he was postponing the signing because he did not like what he saw in the order's text. He announced the change hours before the event was scheduled to take place in the Oval Office. "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 at an unrelated Oval Office event. The push for some kind of government action to vet the most powerful 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. 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's AI model, Claude Mythos. The meeting, urgently assembled at the Treasury Department's headquarters, was intended to ensure that banks were aware of the risks associated with the models, Bessent said at CNBC's "Invest in America Forum" in Washington in April. "This new Anthropic model is very powerful," he said. "Some 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." That led some allies of the Republican president to propose better methods for getting those AI tools in the hands of trusted cybersecurity experts. But an approach that could be perceived as government screening of commercial AI models would have signaled a significant shift in Trump's pledges coming into his second White House term to undo the AI safety regulations set by Democratic President Joe Biden. -- - O'Brien reported from Providence, R.I. Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.

Trump postpones long-awaited artificial intelligence order signing

President Trump has postponed the signing ceremony for his long-awaited executive order on a voluntary testing process for artificial intelligence models, Trump saying he "didn't like certain aspects of it." The White House told invited tech leaders Thursday morning that the ceremony was off, morning, just hours before the expected afternoon signing, two sources familiar told The Hill. "I postponed it," Trump told reporters Thursday. "I think it gets in the way of ... we're leading China, we're leading everybody, and I don't want to do anything that's gonna get in the way of that lead." "I really thought [the EO] could've been a blocker" to the country's AI development, Trump continued. The order was expected to lay out a process for AI companies to volunteer their models for government testing ahead of public release. It follows weeks of anticipation over how the White House would respond to new cybersecurity AI models, including Anthropic's Mythos, the company's most advanced model to date. Mythos, unlike most consumer-facing AI models, can find decades-old security vulnerabilities in software, online infrastructure, web browsers and more, according to Anthropic. The model's release shook the administration's commitment to its typical hands-off approach, prompting discussions about the government's involvement in new model rollouts. But Trump's latest comments indicate concerns even the voluntary process could hamper innovation. AI is "causing tremendous good and it's also bringing in a lot of jobs," Trump said. "Tremendous number of jobs."

Trump Delays AI Executive Order Over Competitiveness Concerns | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. 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. 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.

Trump says he postponed signing AI order because he didn't 'like' it

President Trump said he postponed today's signing of an executive order on artificial intelligence because he "didn't like" all the details, arguing it would put American companies behind foreign competition. "I didn't like certain aspects of it, I postponed it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Follow The Post's live coverage of President Trump and national politics for the latest news and analysis "I think it gets in the way of, you know, 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," he said.

Trump says he's postponing signing an executive order on AI out of concern it would hurt AI industry

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump called off a Thursday signing ceremony for a new order on artificial intelligence because he worried it could dull America's edge on AI technology. Trump said he was postponing the signing because he didn't like what he saw in the order's text. He announced the change hours before the event was scheduled to take place in the Oval Office. "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 at an unrelated Oval Office event.

Trump postpones AI executive order, didn't like parts of it

STORY: :: Trump postpones signing an executive order on AI because he 'didn't like' parts of it :: Washington, D.C. / May 21, 2026 "Because I didn't like certain aspects of it. I postponed it. I think it gets in the way of, you know, 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. We have a very substantial one. It's causing, it's causing a tremendous good and it's also bringing in a lot of jobs, tremendous numbers of jobs. Again, we have more people working right now than we've ever had. I really thought that could have been a blocker. And I want to make sure that it's not." // REPORTER: "In China last week with President Xi, did you discuss AI?" TRUMP: "I did. I discussed it, and he acknowledges how well we're doing. We're doing well. He's done with the two of us, and the two countries are fighting for it. Other countries are way behind. We're way behind. They're fighting for it. They want, everybody wants it, but they're way behind. But I didn't want to do it. I postponed that meeting, it was a press corps. It was exciting, actually, and because I didn't like what I was seeing." The order would create a voluntary framework for AI developers to engage with the U.S. government before the public release of covered models, two sources told Reuters on Wednesday. The president also had planned to direct the U.S. government to use the advanced models to improve the cybersecurity defenses of government systems, along with networks owned by sectors that are vital to the nation's economy, such as banks and hospitals, according to another source. The president's executive order, if implemented, could hurt the industry's profits if it slows the rollout of new models or prompts companies to change how they perform to address security concerns.

White House postpones Trump's AI signing ceremony, say sources

May 21 (Reuters) - The White House has postponed its planned Thursday ceremony for President Donald Trump to sign a new executive order on AI and cybersecurity, two sources familiar with the matter said. Axios, citing an internal note, was the first to report the news. The order would create a voluntary framework for AI developers to engage with the U.S. government about the public release of covered models, two sources told Reuters on Wednesday. (Reporting by Courtney Rozen, writing by David Ljunggren)