Everything seemed set for a photo op of tech and AI CEOs who would surround President Trump Thursday as he signed a much-anticipated executive order on AI and cybersecurity.
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- Then it fell apart hours before the signing as a top Trump adviser and some tech executives gave it a big thumbs down — to a president who didn't really want to regulate AI in the first place.
Why it matters: Any further delay of the order means more time for infighting and for the text to get bogged down in disagreements among different parts of the government and industry.
Behind the scenes: Ahead of the signing, Trump, AI adviser David Sacks, and some in industry discussed the executive order, sources familiar told Axios.
- The main reason why the executive order signing was delayed was because "he just hates regulation," one source familiar said of Trump, adding that Sacks also "hated it."
- "The whole thing was unnecessary" and "just something doomers wanted," the source added.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, xAI CEO Elon Musk and Sacks all spoke with Trump between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
- The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
What they're saying: "I didn't like certain aspects of it. I postponed it," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.
- "I think it gets in the way of — you know, we're leading China, we're leading everybody, and I didn't want to do anything to get in the way of that lead."
- Those who have been pushing for AI regulation in Washington were relieved that the White House was finally going to make moves on AI and cybersecurity safety. Now it's not clear when — or whether — that is going to happen.
- Axios first reported details of what was going to be in the executive order this week.
The big picture: Trump has been walking a tightrope of allowing American AI companies to flourish without strict rules while weighing growing public anti-AI sentiment, including within his own party.
- For now, the accelerationists have won out.
- One government official told Axios: "It could be CEOs, or egos in general. Everyone hates each other in the political tech space."
One tech industry source told Axios there were also questions about why the Treasury Department received such a leading role in the coordinating security vulnerabilities in the postponed AI executive order as it was written.
- Typically, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have taken leading roles in reviewing and testing critical security vulnerabilities — as well as notifying the tech ecosystem about them.
- "It's not clear just objectively speaking why Treasury is involved and what is their substantive expertise in this area," the source told Axios.
While there were lingering questions about which AI models would participate in the voluntary testing program, technology companies have been broadly supportive of AI model testing and guardrails.
- And leading frontier, or cutting-edge, models already do voluntary testing through the Commerce Department's Center for AI Standards and Innovation.
- Some questions also remained about whether sharing an AI model for up to 90 days ahead of release would prevent companies from also sharing with other allied countries who may want to conduct their own safety tests, the source added.
What to watch: The White House's Office of the National Cyber Director has teased in private conversations that it is working on additional AI security initiatives besides the EO that had been expected today, the source said.