Speculation swirled Friday over the last-minute collapse of President Donald Trump's planned executive order on powerful AI models, with fingers pointing at the president's allies in Silicon Valley who oppose government oversight of the technology.A draft of the shelved order leaked to US media shows the White House had prepared new AI cybersecurity measures before Trump pulled the plug Thursday. His former AI czar had reportedly called Trump directly to raise objections.
The collapse is the latest sign that Washington remains unable to agree on even modest guardrails for the technology -- leaving the United States well behind Europe and Asia and far short of what many safety advocates say is needed.
If enacted, the dropped executive order would have given the federal government up to 90 days of access to the most powerful AI models before their public release, while establishing a coordinated response to AI-enabled threats to banks, hospitals and other critical infrastructure.
Politico and other media reported that David Sacks, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who served as Trump's AI and crypto czar, called the president Thursday morning -- blindsiding White House staff -- to warn that the measure would slow innovation and hurt the US in its AI race with China.
