The White House came within hours of signing a new executive order that would have created a voluntary review process for advanced AI models. Then it didn’t.
Politico reported on a draft of the AI executive order on May 20, revealing a framework that would have required developers of “covered frontier models” to submit their technologies for federal agency review, including by the National Security Agency, up to 90 days before public release. The signing was scheduled for May 21. It never happened.
What the draft actually said
The draft outlined a voluntary system, not a mandatory one. Developers of the most advanced AI systems would have been asked, not forced, to let federal agencies take a look under the hood before shipping products to market.
The 90-day pre-release review window would have given agencies like the NSA time to assess cybersecurity implications and national security risks.
