TL;DRA three-way internal fight between the Commerce Department, intelligence agencies, and pro-industry factions has paralysed US federal AI regulation. Trump scrapped an executive order at the last minute, CAISI testing announcements were pulled from NIST’s website, and no framework exists weeks after Mythos demonstrated offensive cybersecurity capabilities.
The Trump administration is locked in an internal battle over artificial intelligence regulation that has paralysed federal AI policy at the moment it matters most. Three factions are fighting for control: the Commerce Department, which has been quietly building civilian testing partnerships with AI companies; national security officials who want intelligence agencies to evaluate frontier models before release; and pro-industry aides who argue that any regulation risks slowing American AI leadership. The conflict has been described by people involved as a “knife fight.”
The paralysis became visible in May. On 5 May, the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, housed within the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, announced pre-deployment testing agreements with Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and Elon Musk’s xAI. Days later, the announcement was removed from NIST’s website with no explanation. CAISI staff were told to take the page down but not told why.
