The Trump administration is signaling a sharper turn toward AI oversight just days before the president heads to Beijing, marking a notable shift from its earlier deregulatory stance on artificial intelligence.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, indicated Wednesday that the White House is considering an executive order to establish formal vetting procedures for the most powerful AI models. He drew a direct parallel to pharmaceutical approval, suggesting new systems would need to demonstrate safety before deployment.
"We're studying, possibly an executive order to give a clear roadmap to everybody about how this is going to go and how future AIs that also potentially create vulnerabilities should go through a process so that they're released to the wild after they've been proven safe, just like an FDA drug," Hassett said on Fox Business.
Chief of Staff Susie Wiles amplified the message on social media Wednesday night, emphasizing safety language three times in a brief post. The rhetorical escalation stands in contrast to Vice President JD Vance's February remarks at an AI conference in Paris, where he warned against international regulations that could strangle innovation.
Multiple executive actions appear to be in development, sources said, including measures focused on cybersecurity, testing protocols for new models, and potential licensing frameworks governing government access to AI systems. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has pushed for financial services input into whatever emerges, signaling a whole-of-government approach.
This week alone, Google, xAI, and Microsoft inked pre-deployment testing agreements with the Commerce Department's Center for AI Standards and Innovation, with Anthropic and OpenAI continuing similar arrangements. White House meetings have included technology and finance sector representatives.
The timing suggests coordination with China may also be on the agenda for Trump's Beijing trip. Officials are weighing whether to add formal AI discussions to the summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, signaling both superpowers may recognize risks in an uncontrolled AI arms race.
Skeptics note the gap between rhetoric and action. Vivek Chilukuri, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, cautioned that statements about balancing innovation and security "reflect less of a major policy shift than an internal debate about how to reconcile its commitment to limit AI regulation with the realities of AI progress." The real test, he said, comes if a major AI lab releases a model despite government security concerns.
A former Commerce Department official was blunter, suggesting the administration felt forced into these discussions rather than choosing them willingly.
The White House official statement on Thursday reiterated a long-standing commitment to weigh both advancement and security, stopping short of confirming any specific policy moves or timelines.
Author James Rodriguez: "Words matter, but execution matters more. The administration's sudden interest in AI guardrails feels reactive rather than visionary, and without teeth behind these frameworks, frontier labs will keep pushing boundaries."
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