President Trump canceled the signing ceremony for a new AI cybersecurity executive order on May 21, just hours before it was scheduled to take place. His reason: parts of the draft could weaken America’s position in the global AI race.
The order would have directed federal agencies to build a pre-release evaluation process for advanced AI models, essentially giving the government a first look at systems from major developers before they hit the public.
What the order would have done
The draft executive order centered on AI cybersecurity and safety oversight. Its marquee provision: a voluntary review process where federal agencies would evaluate cutting-edge AI models from companies like Google, Microsoft, and Elon Musk’s xAI before those models were released to the public.
Agencies would have had two months to stand up that evaluation pipeline.
