Trump signs executive order that allows voluntary federal vetting of top AI models for national security risks

By — Matt O'Brien, Associated Press Matt O'Brien, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/trump-signs-executive-order-that-allows-voluntary-federal-vetting-of-top-ai-models-for-national-security-risks Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Trump signs executive order that allows voluntary federal vetting of top AI models for national security risks Nation Jun 2, 2026 3:58 PM EDT President Donald Trump signed an executive order on oversight of artificial intelligence Tuesday, less than two weeks after postponing a White House ceremony over his concerns that a similar policy could dull America's technological edge. The order establishes a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release. Participation by AI developers would be voluntary, the order says. READ MORE: Pope Leo XIV to launch his first encylical, a document on artificial intelligence, with Anthropic's co-founder "Advanced AI capabilities make our Nation stronger, but also introduce new national security considerations that require coordinated action across executive departments and agencies," the order says. It was not immediately clear to what extent the order differed from the one Trump declined to sign on May 21. The order says the government would have only 30 days to review an AI system, a shorter time frame than some in the industry were expecting. A longer time period might have been seen as too burdensome for a fast-moving and highly competitive industry. Trump canceled an Oval Office event with tech industry executives last month because he did not like what he saw in the earlier version of the order's text. "We're leading China , we're leading everybody, and I don't want to do anything that's going to get in the way of that lead," Trump told reporters at the time. That directive was characterized as a voluntary collaboration with participating U.S.-based tech companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI and Google, which are sometimes described as "frontier labs" because they are building the most advanced AI systems. Several companies had been planning to have executives present at the May 21 signing event. Trump ended up signing it without any ceremony. The White House said in a social media post Tuesday that the executive order "creates a process for frontier labs to voluntarily share cutting-edge cyber models in order to secure critical infrastructure and strengthen the government's own cyber defenses. We are NOT conducting oversight of all new models, as that level of government overreach would have chilling effects on free speech and innovation." Juan Londoño, a policy analyst at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, said the order is imperfect but "a step in the right direction to prepare the nation for the release of advanced AI systems." He applauded the White House's characterizati