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Trump’s abandoned AI order emerged from weeks of NDA-bound talks with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
From left, Emil Michael, Pete Hegseth, David Sacks, Susie Wiles and Scott Bessent. | Illustration by Claudine Hellmuth/POLITICO (source images via AP and Getty)
President Donald Trump’s sudden decision to scrap an AI executive order on May 21 has exposed a rift within the White House on how to regulate the emerging technology.
There are three main camps in the West Wing, per two senior White House officials, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal dynamics. The first, which includes former AI czar David Sacks, favors less regulation to help the industry compete against China. It was Sacks who called the president last week and derailed the EO at the last minute due to industry concerns that the order could be too onerous for the relatively nascent industry.
