Trump signs executive order calling for government access to frontier AI models News
PLBechly, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Trump signs executive order calling for government access to frontier AI models

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday seeking government oversight of emerging artificial intelligence technologies.

Section 3 of the order calls for developing and maintaining a “classified benchmarking process to assess the advanced cyber capabilities of AI models.” Specifically, the administration wants to determine which models are a “covered frontier model.” These are the most powerful, high energy models available. Departments included in Section 3 are: War/Defense, Treasury, Homeland Security, and Commerce.

Furthermore, it creates a voluntary framework where AI Developers can “provide the Federal Government with access to covered frontier models.” This takes place 30 days before they plan to release the models to the public. Voluntary is key.

The Trump administration has previously criticized AI regulations, and to an extent, continues to do so. The White House is promoting this order as balancing innovation and national security. They distinguished the order from the Biden administration’s policy, claiming they sought out a top-down approach. Trump on the other hand works “hand-in-hand with American industry,” per the White House website.

Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), co-Chairman of the bipartisan Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus, was critical of the order. He said the order “continues to allow companies to release powerful models to the public without undergoing meaningful evaluation or review.” Additionally he criticized the “absence of clear guidance on how identified threats would be addressed.”

The order can be seen as step towards defending against AI agents and other cyberattacks on their own. Also, the defensive nature of the order heavily focuses on cyberattacks. Its defensive focus seeks to change what Vectra AI CEO Hitesh Sheth warned against, which was that attackers have an advantage. To change this, he recommended AI expertise at the top of enterprises. For the government, this can be ensuring each department has cybersecurity knowledge.

Most elements of the order will take effect in 30 days.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Referendum makes Italy a Republic

On June 2, 1946, Italians approved a public referendum to change their country from a monarchy into a republic for the first time in the nation's history. The Constitution of Italy later came into force on January 1, 1948.

Timothy McVeigh convicted for Oklahoma City bombing

On June 2, 1997, a federal jury convicted Timothy McVeigh on 11 counts, including eight counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Eleven days later, he was sentenced to die by lethal injection.