President Trump shelved a planned executive order on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity Thursday morning, scuttling what was supposed to be a marquee signing with tech CEOs gathered at the White House. The abrupt reversal came after last-minute pushback from Trump adviser David Sacks and major industry figures who opposed the regulatory framework.
Trump told reporters he postponed the order because certain provisions conflicted with his priority of maintaining American AI dominance globally. "I think it gets in the way of you know, we're leading China, we're leading everybody, and I didn't want to do anything to get in the way of that lead," he said in the Oval Office.
Behind the scenes, Sacks, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and xAI CEO Elon Musk all weighed in with Trump between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to sources familiar with the discussions. One insider characterized the opposition bluntly: Trump "just hates regulation," and Sacks shared that sentiment. The order was dismissed by one source as "something doomers wanted" and "unnecessary" altogether.
The postponement leaves regulators and AI safety advocates uncertain whether the executive order will ever materialize. Those who had pushed Washington to establish guardrails around AI development saw the imminent order as a crucial step forward. Now that momentum has stalled.
The shelved order contained several controversial elements that triggered internal friction. Treasury Department involvement in coordinating security vulnerability reviews raised eyebrows among tech insiders, who questioned why it had taken a lead role traditionally handled by agencies like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Questions also lingered over the specifics of a voluntary testing program for AI models. Industry sources noted ambiguity about whether companies would be prohibited from sharing models with allied nations for their own safety evaluations if they participated in a 90-day pre-release testing window under the executive order.
The collapse exposes fractures in Trump's coalition as he navigates competing pressures. On one hand, Silicon Valley wants minimal restrictions to unleash AI innovation. On the other, mounting public skepticism about AI's risks cuts across political lines, including within Republican ranks. For now, the acceleration camp has prevailed.
A government official attributed the breakdown to personality clashes and ego battles in the tech space. "It could be CEOs, or egos in general. Everyone hates each other in the political tech space," the official told sources.
The White House Office of the National Cyber Director has separately signaled it is developing additional AI security initiatives beyond the postponed executive order, suggesting the administration may pursue a patchwork approach instead of the comprehensive framework originally planned.
Author James Rodriguez: "Trump's retreat on AI regulation proves that when money and ideology align against caution, caution loses, at least for now."
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