WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump canceled a planned signing ceremony for an AI regulation executive order on May 21, just hours before it was scheduled to take place. Trump told reporters that the executive order could stifle domestic competition and reduce the U.S. advantage over China in the AI race.
The nixed executive order would have established a voluntary framework requiring AI labs such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to provide the White House early access to their models—up to 90 days before public release—for evaluation of cybersecurity capabilities. Several AI executives told WIRED their companies may not be prepared to share models that far in advance.
David Sacks, Trump’s former AI czar, opposed the executive order and reportedly convinced Trump to cancel the signing hours before it was set to occur. Sacks wrote on X: “President Trump understands that unnecessary regulation is the biggest threat to innovation in America. Winning the AI race means not only beating China but also clearing bureaucratic hurdles thrown up by state legislatures and woke politicians in DC.”
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has since taken charge of a group of top officials pushing to resurrect the AI executive order. The group includes Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross. Bessent has met with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and other AI executives in recent weeks to forge a path forward on AI policy.
A senior administration official said, “We’re back to the drawing board, so everything is still to play for.” Another administration official added, “Resolving the infighting only matters if it gets Trump to yes.”
The White House recognizes that AI is fast becoming a national security concern due to the capabilities of Anthropic’s Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 models in finding vulnerabilities in legacy software systems. The Trump administration initially eschewed attempts to regulate AI, but the push for an executive order suggests a change of heart. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has played a minimal role in the process, in part because he already has early access to new AI models through the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, which he expanded at the start of Trump’s second term. The Pentagon has played a back-seat role in crafting the order, though Undersecretary Emil Michael has focused on ensuring the department receives early access to frontier AI models.