The Trump administration’s hands-off approach to AI is hitting a wall. According to the Financial Times, the White House could as soon as next week unveil voluntary standards for releasing frontier AI models, setting benchmarks for models with top-tier cybersecurity capabilities and establishing timelines for future releases. The U.S. AI Safety and Innovation Center and the National Security Agency (NSA) will play key roles in setting and enforcing these standards.
Last month, direct government intervention at two major AI labs triggered chaos and frustration: Anthropic saw its latest model hit with export controls on June 12 over abuse and cybersecurity fears — only lifted this Tuesday. OpenAI was told to release GPT-5.6 exclusively to a government-vetted group, with a broader rollout expected as early as next week. And Google is in talks with the government before releasing its next-generation coding model, which comes with stronger network capabilities.
Despite Trump’s promises to ease regulation so U.S. companies can outpace Chinese rivals, the risk that new models could exploit security vulnerabilities and disrupt critical industries is forcing the White House to tighten the safety net.